"Overcoming Five Key Challenges to Make the Energy Transition a Just Labor Transition." with Sharan Burrow, Shouvik Chakraborty, Reza Daniels, Alan Finkelstein Shapiro, Helena Garcia, Raphael Heffron, Michael Jakob, Markus Janser, Suzi Kerr, Catherine Leining, Dave Mare, Mauro Pucheta, Daniel Raimi, Mandy Rambharos, Euan Richardson, Marcela Tarazona, and Alessio Terzi.
Revised & Resubmit at Nature Communications.
Abstract: Shifting rapidly to a low-emissions global economy could severely disrupt workers and their communities, exacerbating inequalities and perpetuating injustice. In a Just Labor Transition, strategic policies prepare workers for new jobs, enable inclusive decision-making with meaningful worker representation, and secure social license for change.
Academic Presentations: EAERE 2025 Summer Conference
"A Global and Inclusive Just Labor Transition: Challenges and Opportunities in Developed and Developing Countries." with Brigitte Castañeda Rodríguez, Raphael J Heffron, and Minwoo Hyun
EDF Economic Discussion Paper Series, EDF EDP 24-03, Aug 2024 (link to paper)
Abstract: This research identifies challenges and opportunities for achieving an inclusive just transition to a low-carbon economy in the labor market, a just labor transition (JLT). We conduct a comparative analysis of JLT policies between developed and developing countries. These countries face common challenges in achieving a JLT to ensure quality jobs, compensation for displaced workers, and the need for governmental intervention. In assessing developing countries, we recognize the heterogeneity among these countries, so we focus on a sample that allows us to characterize the labor market within the transitioning sectors. We identify both challenges and potential avenues for creating new employment opportunities, facilitating skill retraining, and ensuring the integration of communities within a JLT. Many of these countries are in the initial phases of a just energy transition, and notably, we also explore the nascent just energy transition partnership efforts. Further, we describe the opportunities and lessons drawn from advanced economies' experiences and the recent efforts of developing countries that could help achieve a global and inclusive JLT. These findings demonstrate some key steps many countries can take towards beginning and achieving their JLT destination. Finally, we construct and present a Just Labor Transition Progress Scale, which measures where countries are in terms of their progress in policy and impact within their job markets. This tool will be particularly useful for research and policy-making practitioners.
Academic Presentations: AERE 2024 Summer Conference, EDF Economic Seminar(2024)+, International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) webinar (2024), 2024 Annual Workshop The Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative (SETI), National Academies' Workshop on Macroeconomic Implications of Decarbonization Policies and Actions (2024)
"Job Quality and the Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy." with Marc Hafstead and Roberton C. Williams III (link, model documentation)
Abstract:
Policymakers are deeply concerned about the impact of environmental policy on jobs, particularly regarding the potential increase in involuntary unemployment and the potential loss of high-quality jobs. This paper extends existing search-CGE models by incorporating inter- and intra-industry job ladders, allowing for on-the-job search and cross-industry job quality differences. By considering sectoral detail and disaggregation, the model aims to capture more realistic employment dynamics and the persistent earnings losses observed in empirical studies following job loss. Preliminary findings suggest that the welfare losses resulting from environmental policy induced job loss depend on whether low- or high-quality jobs are affected, with reductions in tenured workers causing more significant losses. Factors such as policy stringency and the substitutability of term and tenured workers in production further influence these effects. Our model contributes to a better understanding of the impacts of environmental policy on jobs and facilitates comparisons between workers with varying levels of attachment to regulated industries.
Academic Presentations: AERE 2020 Virtual Conference*, EPA’s NCEE CGE Modeling Workshop (2020), NBER Distributional Consequences of New Energy Policies Preconference (2022) * +, AERE Sponsored Sessions at the Annual MEA Meetings (2023), EDF Economics Seminar (2023), NBER Distributional Consequences of New Energy Policies Conference (2023)
"Carbon Taxation, Green Jobs, and Sectoral Human Capital" (New version coming soon!) (older version)
Abstract:
This paper develops a two-sector search model with sectoral human capital accumulation to explore the effects on the labor market of implementing a per unit of energy use carbon tax in the US. In particular, I examine the costly reallocation of workers between sectors, the welfare effects of involuntary unemployment, and the heterogeneous effects of this policy on different types of workers. I separate the economy into a high-intensive sector and a low-intensive sector. I discipline the model parameters using 2014 U.S. data. I find that a carbon tax increases total unemployment by 0.3 percentage points, dirty employment rate decreases by 1.1 percentage points, and clean employment rate increases by 0.5 percentage points. Also, I find that firms in the dirty sector adjust by decreasing the demand for high-skilled workers. Increasing the number of vacancies in the low-skilled market, where the production demands less energy and workers perceive lower wages.
Academic Presentations: AERE@Eastern Economic Association (2025), EDF Economics Seminar (2022), CAF - development bank of Latin America Seminar (2022), EAERE Annual Conference (2020), ITAM Alumni Conference (2020), New Advances in Sustainable Resource Use and Economic Dynamics (SURED) (2020), AERE Sponsored Sessions at the Annual MEA Meetings (2020)**, Banco de México Workshop (2019).
"Environmental Policies and Informality: The Case of Mexico." with Diana MacDonald (Draft coming soon!)
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the effect on the Mexican labor market of deepening the existing environmental regulations by increasing their carbon tax to truly achieve the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) emissions reductions, considering that high levels of informality characterize its labor market. We do that by developing a multi-sector general equilibrium search model that considers informal labor, both the informal sector and the informal contracts in the formal sector. Understanding how environmental regulation and informality interact seems crucial. First, because of the size of Mexican informality, second, because of the country’s carbon intensity, and third, because of the existence of additional mechanisms that differ from countries without this labor market feature. Lastly, we analyze the alternative usage of government revenue from the carbon tax and the different impacts on the economy. In particular, we find that rebating the revenue to decrease the formal tax burden can incentivize formal jobs.
"Efficiency and Equity Impacts of Carbon Pricing Policies with Cost-Effective Direct Air Capture: A General Equilibrium Analysis." with Marc Hafstead
Academic Presentations: IAERE Annual Conference (2021)
"Airport Expansion, Air Pollution, and Death Count in Mexico City." with Sayanhika Basu
Academic Presentations: AERE @ the Southern Economic Association (SEA) Annual Conference (2020)
"Climate Action Teams" with Suzi Kerr, Francisco Pinto, and Rodrigo Bórquez (slides)
"Equity and Global Carbon Markets" with Suzi Kerr
"Just Transitions in Labor Market." with Suzi Kerr, Catherine Leining, and Euan Richardson
"Implication of EU's CBAM to India's Economy." with Manjusha Mukherjee and Anshuman Tiwari,
"NYSERDA-RFF Carbon Pricing Project." with Dallas Burtraw, Marc Hafstead, Karen Palmer, and Kathryne Cleary
"EDF-RFF Washington State Carbon Pricing Project." with Marc Hafstead
"The Effects of Natural Disasters on Labor Allocation: Evidence from Brazil." by Hernández-Cortés and Mathes (slides), AERE Sponsored Sessions at the Annual MEA Meetings (2023)
"Is being more aggressive rewarding? Case of environmental tax and income nexus in developing countries." by Adom (slides), 2024 Annual Workshop The Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative (SETI)
"Commuting, Home Utilities, and Production: The Distributional Effects of Energy Price Shocks" by Mehedi Hasan Oni (slides), NBER's Distributional Consequences of New Energy Policies, Fall 2024 Conference
"Tourism, economic development, and land use change" by Manuel Linsenmeier. (slides), AERE Sponsored Sessions at the Annual EEA Meetings (2025)
* Presented by coauthors, **Cancel because of Covid, +Schedule