Urban Economics

Downwind and Out: The Strategic Dispersion of Power Plants and Their Pollution

__Conditionally Accepted JAERE (2024)__ We document the tendency of coal-fueled electricity plants to locate on jurisdictional borders. We then develop a simple test to detect if the plants are strategically sited. Lastly, we use an atmospheric dispersion model to provide new descriptive statistics on the pervasiveness of the pollution transport problem.

The Distributional Impacts of Climate Changes across US Local Labor Markets

We show that disadvantaged demographic groups are disproportionately exposed to climate change in the US and are less responsive in their adaptive behavior. We develop and estimate a spatial equilibrium model of US local labor markets and show that climate change to date has caused welfare losses 20% larger for Black households relative to white households and twice as large for the lowest income decile relative to the highest income decile

Carbon Taxes in Spatial Equilibrium

__Job Market Paper__ I estimate the spatial and sectoral distribution of incidence from carbon pricing by developing and estimating a quantitative spatial equilibrium model. I find workers without a college degree in manufacturing bear the greatest burden. I also use the model to demonstrate that progressive compensation leads to a decline in aggregate carbon emissions relative to flat transfers, due to a reallocation of workers into cities and sectors that are less carbon-intensive

The Environmental Cost of Land Use Restrictions

__Quantitative Economics__ (2022) We examine the effects of stringent local land-use regulations on household carbon and particulate matter emissions. We develop and estimate a spatial equilibrium model and predict that relaxing tight land use regulations in California would decrease national carbon output by 0.6%.