Research

Publication

Fueling Electrification: The Impact of Gas Prices on Hybrid Car Usage with Laura Grigolon and Kevin Remmy
- Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2026, Vol. 13, Issue 3, pages 681 - 711
- Abstract: We use micro-level data on fuel consumption, mileage, and travel mode to study how plug-in hybrid drivers respond to fuel prices. When fuel prices rise, plug-in hybrids reduce fuel consumption more than gasoline and diesel cars. They do not proportionally reduce their mileage; instead, they increase electric charging. Since plug-in hybrids drive in electric mode for only half the distance suggested by official test cycle values, fuel prices are effective in improving the environmental performance of these vehicles.
- Selected media coverage: Wirtschaftswoche (15/2024 in German)
- You can listen to an AI-generated podcast (in English or German) or watch an explainer video (powered by NotebookLM):

Environmental Ambition and Economic Protectionism: The Design of Border Carbon Adjustments with Sebastian Rausch and Valerie J. Karplus
- Abstract: Border carbon adjustments (BCAs) are intended to limit carbon leakage while protecting domestic industry, but governments differ over whether border charges should price total embodied emissions or only emissions above an intensity benchmark. We study this design choice in a plant-level general equilibrium model of the global steel industry with heterogeneous technologies and vertical supply chains. A rate-based BCA is equivalent to an emissions charge combined with an implicit output subsidy. It therefore weakens the carbon-price signal, encourages reshuffling of cleaner output toward the regulated market, and can induce leakage through underpriced carbon-intensive intermediates. In an EU-style setting with domestic carbon pricing, the rate-based design transmits only 36% of the mass-based border price needed to achieve the same global emissions reduction and yields larger welfare losses. In a US-style setting without a domestic carbon-price anchor, it mainly shifts rents toward domestic downstream industries rather than inducing abatement abroad.