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I am an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.
My research interests are in Industrial Organization, and Energy and Environmental Economics. I develop empirical methods to understand better the design of policies that aim to mitigate climate change.
My CV
Programs promoting the adoption of green durable goods have become increasingly common, but often face criticism for inefficient targeting. I develop a richly specified dynamic discrete choice model of durable good adoption and characterize the optimal targeted subsidy. I then apply the model to the market for rooftop solar in California. Using administrative utility billing data, solar installation records, and rooftop solar potential estimates, I estimate a model of residential solar adoption. The analysis finds that accounting for the marginal cost of public funds is crucial when designing subsidy programs. The optimal targeted subsidy increases welfare gains by 40\% compared to California's existing program. However, simpler designs can capture most of these benefits. A capacity-based subsidy that doesn't subsidize small systems achieves 94-97\% of the potential welfare gains. The results suggest that screening on system size alone is highly effective for targeting solar subsidies, providing insights for policymakers on designing cost-effective green technology incentives.
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