Green Spills: Peer effects in pro-environmental behaviors (with Benedikt Janzen) [Revise & Resubmit Journal of Public Economics]

(SAEE junior workshop best presentation award; SAEE best dissertation award 2023, SSES Young Economist Award 2024) 

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.

Trade-labor linkages and international investment: Protectionism in disguise? (with Damian Raess)
Abstract: We estimate the impact of labor clauses in preferential trade agreements on bilateral FDI. Using a structural gravity equation framework, estimated with todays’ standard PPML method, we find that labor clauses, if treated exogenously, significantly decrease global investment. However, the exogeneity of policy variables is doubtful. Applying the identification by fixed effects method, allowing labor clauses to be endogenously determined, the results show that labor clauses promote investment. We find interesting heterogeneity between different kind of country pairs. Investment from relatively low to relatively high as well as investment between relatively similar economies in terms of labor right standards benefits from labor provisions in preferential trade agreements. We find little to no evidence for a harmful impact of labor provisions on investments from high labor right standard economies into low labor right standard economies neglecting developing economies often cited fear of labor clauses potential protectionist impact and their resistance towards the inclusion of said clauses in trade negotiations.

Hazy Dreams: The Impact of Air Pollution on Sleep  (with Benedikt Janzen) 

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 affect sleep. We document that a 10 unit increase in the average daily PM10 concentration reduces sleep duration on average 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 critical role of sleep in human well-being highlights the potential social burden of pollution-induced sleep loss.

From Fireside Intentions to Real Estate Market Reconfiguration  (with Marie Breuillé, Camille Grivault, Sébastien Houde, Julie Le Gallo and Alexandra Verlhiac) 

Abstract: Extreme climate events are more likely, more intense and require adaptation. We examine intended and realized migration behavior by leveraging a recent, devastating and salient event in France as a natural experiment. Using administrative and tracked real estate platform data, we show that the wildfire triggered a substantial increase in housing supply, coupled with a temporary slowdown in demand intentions. This gap translates to no adjustments in residential mobility, and a reallocation of properties toward rental use. Transaction prices remain stable suggesting limited reassessment of long-term value. These patterns reveal that climate shocks can disrupt local housing dynamics and reconfigure markets while preventing intended adaptation behavior.

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

Bigler, P., & Radulescu, D. (2025). Environmental, Redistributive, and Revenue Effects of Policies Promoting Fuel-Efficient and Electric Vehicles. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 12(5), 1059-1096. [Published version] [CESifo WP] 

Media coverage: SNF - press release , Watson (short) , Watson (extended) , SRF (article),  SRF (audio),  Energate, Le Temps 

Bigler, P. (2025). Magnitude and decomposition of the solar rebound: Evidence from Swiss households. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 133, 103194. [Published Version]

Bigler, P., & Radulescu, D. (2021). Heating system choice among Swiss households: determinants and effects of policy counterfactuals. In Research Handbook on Environmental Sociology (pp. 187-215). Edward Elgar Publishing.