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.

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. 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 0.5 million consumer wearable users in Germany from 2020 to 2022, we show that even relatively low levels of particulate matter air pollution adversely affect sleep. We use a high-dimensional fixed effects approach and document that a 10 $\mu$g/m$^3$ increase in average daily PM10 concentration reduces sleep duration by about one minute. To strengthen the causal interpretation of our findings, we confirm these findings with 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.

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.

Forest Fires and the Dynamics of Adaptation in the Residential Housing Market (with Marie Breuillé, Camille Grivault, Sébastien Houde, Julie Le Gallo and Alexandra Verlhiac) 

Abstract: Combining administrative data with tracked real estate platform data and exploiting an unexpected, large-scale, and salient wildfire event in France as a quasi-experiment, we study the divergence between intended and realized adaptation behavior in real estate markets, a gap that remains invisible when studying realized transactions alone. The wildfire triggered a substantial increase in housing supply alongside a decline in market interest, yet produced no significant residential relocation. Transaction and offer prices remain stable despite the supply-demand imbalance, consistent with owners unwilling to sell at reduced prices. Excess supply is instead redirected toward long-term and short-term rental markets, pointing to strategic asset reallocation. These results reveal that owners wish to divest from climate-exposed regions but lock-in effects and price rigidity prevent the desired adaptation from materializing.

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.