Hi!
I am an applied microeconomist with interest in topics related to environmental and health economics.
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Public Economics at the University of Passau and a research scholar at the IIASA. I am affiliated with the Institute for Political Economy of Public Policy at WU Vienna.
I received my PhD in Economics from the University of Bern.
CV [Link]
CONTACT
benedikt.janzen@uni-passau.deGreen 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
Media Coverage (in German): FAZ
Abstract: This paper examines causal peer effects in pro-environmental behavior using geocoded panel data on 260,000 Swiss households from 2008 to 2019 and instrumental variables methods. We find that peer behavior has a simultaneous impact on a broad range of energy-related practices. In particular, we find that peer solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption increases household electricity conservation efforts, with each additional solar PV installation at 100 meters distance to a household reducing a household's annual electricity consumption by 0.2%. We also document peer effects both within and across markets for pro-environmental durable goods, with increased uptake of solar PV and electric vehicles following new solar PV installations nearby. We find suggestive evidence that peer influence manifests itself in different ways contingent upon households' constraints. Our findings have important implications for renewable energy subsidy evaluation. To illustrate this we calculate the marginal value of public funds (MVPF) of the existing solar PV subsidy scheme. In this setting, accounting for peer effects increases welfare by approximately 17%.
Hazy Dreams: The Impact of Air Pollution on Sleep (with Patrick Bigler) [Link]
Abstract: Surprisingly little is known about the causal impact of air pollution on human sleep. We provide quasi-experimental evidence that short-run exposure to particulate matter reduces objectively measured sleep. Using daily district-level data on sleep duration from half a million consumer wearable users in Germany between 2020 to 2022, we show that even relatively low levels of particulate matter air pollution adversely affect sleep. We document that a 10 µg/m3 increase in average daily PM10 concentration reduces sleep duration by about one minute. To strengthen the causal interpretation of our findings, we employ an instrumental variables approach, using local wind direction 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 estimated effects are modest in magnitude, the central role of sleep in human well-being highlights the potential social burden of pollution-induced sleep loss.
Public Festivities, Crime and Health: Evidence from Germany (with Katharina Drescher and Seraphin Schwarzbauer)
Janzen, B. (2025). Temperature and mental health: Evidence from helpline calls. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 12 (6), 1431-1457. [Link]
2023 International Health Economics Association (IHEA) Student Paper 2nd Prize
Bigler, P., & Janzen, B. (2024). Too hot to sleep. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 128, 103063. [Link]
