Primary Fields: Energy, Environment, Public Finance, Industrial Organization
Regulation is the primary means by which government can influence the business environment. My research studies two broad areas related to regulatory policy. The main line of my research studies the effects of regulation and taxation of energy markets. In this area, my papers estimate the impacts of fuel taxes, consumer decisions about what vehicles to purchase or how much to drive, and the counterproductive effects of regulation. Outside of energy, my work examines how regulations and information influence consumer decisions. Research Statement
Published or Forthcoming Papers:
On the use of heuristics to approximate competitors’ private information (with Cynthia Lin). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 86: 1, p. 10-23, February 2013.
Tax Incidence and Supply Conditions (with Justin Marion). Journal of Public Economics, 95: 9-10, p. 1202-1212, October 2011.
Giving Green to Get Green? Incentives and Consumer Adoption of Hybrid Vehicle Technology (with Kelly Gallagher). Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 61, p. 1-15. January 2011
Do Americans Consume Too Little Natural Gas? An Empirical Test of Marginal Cost Pricing (with Lucas Davis). Rand Journal of Economics. 41, p. 791-810. Winter 2010.
Edgeworth Cycles Revisited (with Joseph Doyle and Krislert Samphantharak), Energy Economics, 32, 651-660. May 2010.
Crossing the Line: The Effect of Cross Border Cigarette Sales on State Excise Tax Revenues (with Lesley Chiou). BE Journal - Economic Analysis and Policy (Contributions), 8:1, Article 48. December 2008.
Measuring Illegal Activity and the Effects of Regulatory Innovation: Tax Evasion and the Dyeing of Untaxed Diesel (with Justin Marion). Journal of Political Economy, 114:6, 633-666, August 2008.
Infinite Ergodic Index Zd Actions in Infinite Measure (with B. Narasimhan, A. Raich, C. Silva, M.Touloumtzis, and W. Zhao), Colloquium Mathematicum, vol. 82, No. 2 (1999), 167-190.
Lightly Mixing on
Dense Algebras (with A. Raich, C. Silva and W. Zhao), Real
Analysis Exchange, Vol. 23, No. 1, (1998), 259-266.
Working Papers Under Review:
Weather, Salience of Climate Change and Congressional Voting (with Evan Herrnstadt). May 2013. under review.
Gasoline Taxes and Consumer Behavior (with Joshua Linn and Shanjun Li). February 2012. revision requested, AEJ: Policy.
Consumer Response to Cigarette Excise Tax Changes (with Lesley Chiou). May 2010. revision requested, National Tax Journal.
Consumer Learning and Hybrid Vehicle Adoption (with Garth Heutel). April 2010. under revision.
Gasoline
Price Spikes and Regional Gasoline Content Regulations: A Structural Approach
Other Working Papers:
Tax Incidence and Commodity Tax Evasion. January 2009 (with Justin Marion)
Market Effects of Regulatory Heterogeneity: A Study of Regional Gasoline Content Regulations. June 2006.
Endogenous
Facility Reliability: Evidence from Oil Refinery Fires. March 2005.
Product Differentiation In Gasoline Markets: A Discussion of Regional
Gasoline Content Regulations (formerly The Role of Content Regulation in Pricing and Market Power in Regional
Retail and Wholesale Gasoline Markets).
Work in Progress:
Do the Laws of Tax Incidence Hold? Point of Collection and the Pass-through of State Diesel Taxes (with Justin Marion, Joel Slemrod and Wojciech Kopczuk)
Economic and Non-economic Motivations for Crime
Layoffs and Social Networks: Evidence from Cell Phone Data (with Danny Shoag and Jameson Toole)
Cell Phones and Vehicle Safety (with Danny Shoag)
Weather, Pollution and Avoidance Behavior (with Danny Shoag and Jameson Toole)
updated May 2013.