Working Papers

Green Spills: Peer effects in pro-environmental behaviors (with Patrick Bigler) [Link] R&R Journal of Public Economics

[2024 Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES) Young Economist Award; 2023 Swiss Association of Energy Economics (SAEE) Student Award] 

Abstract: This paper studies causal peer effects in pro-environmental behavior using geocoded panel data of 260,000 Swiss households (2008-2019) and instrumental variables methods. Peer behavior has a simultaneous impact on a broad spectrum of energy practices, and manifests itself in different ways contingent upon households' constraints. For instance, we find that solar PV adoption increases neighbors' electricity conservation efforts. This has important implications for renewable energy subsidy evaluation. Back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that accounting for peer effects decreases carbon abatement costs of solar PV subsidies by 20 percent.

Is air pollution keeping us up at night? (with Patrick Bigler)

Abstract: Surprisingly little is known about the causal impact of air pollution on human sleep. Using daily district-level data on sleep duration collected by half a million consumer wearables in Germany from 2020 to 2022, we find that even low levels of particulate matter air pollution adversely impact human sleep. We document that a 10 ppm increase in the average daily PM10 concentration reduces sleep duration on average by 1.1 minutes. To strengthen the causal interpretation of our findings, we employ an instrumental variables approach, using wind as a predictor for local air pollution. Our findings offer a potential mechanism linking air pollution to a wide range of human outcomes. Although the effects we find are small in magnitude, the critical role of sleep in human well-being underscores the substantial social burden of sleep loss caused by air pollution.

Janzen, B. (202x).Temperature and mental health: Evidence from helpline calls. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, forthcoming. 

[2023 International Health Economics Association (IHEA) Student Paper 2nd Prize]  

Drescher, K., & Janzen, B. (2025). When weather wounds workers:  The impact of temperature on workplace accidents. Journal of Public Economics, 241, 105258. [Link] [Media Release]

Bigler, P., & Janzen, B. (2024). Too hot to sleep. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 128, 103063. [Link]

Drescher, K., & Janzen, B. (2021). Determinants, persistence, and dynamics of energy poverty: An empirical assessment using German household survey data, Energy Economics, 102, 105433. [Link]