Published and Accepted Work

“The Effect of Adopting NextGen Air Transportation System (NextGen) on Air Travel Performance”, with Jessica Chu, Regional Science and Urban Economics, September 2023, 102: 103918

• Summary: Does air transportation infrastructure investment improve air travel performance? Our event-study results suggest sizable time savings in air travel time and delays, implying large private gains on passenger time savings and fuel savings. We find greater gains for flights suffering from severe weather and prior delays. Non-hub and low-cost carriers had greater gains initially, but they were short-lived.

• Published version: [Link]; Accepted version: [PDF], [Online Appendix] 

“How Much Do Consumers Value Fuel Economy and Performance? Evidence from Technology Adoption”, with Benjamin Leard and Joshua Linn, The Review of Economics and Statistics, January 2023, 105 (1): 158-174

• Summary: Evaluating consumer welfare of fuel economy standards needs to consider the welfare cost of forgone performance increases. We find an undervaluation of fuel cost savings and a high valuation of performance, suggesting approximately zero net private consumer benefit from tightened standards since 2012.

• Published version, [Link]; Accepted Version, [PDF]; RFF Report Version, [PDF]; RFF Blog Post, [Link]; RFF Resource Article, [Link]

“Regulatory Spillover and Climate Co-benefit: Evidence from New Source Review Lawsuits”, (with Hei-Sing Ron Chan), Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, October 2021, 110:102545

• Summary: We find New Source Review (NSR), a regulation on SO2 and NOx, has a spillover benefit on CO2. Our decomposition exercise finds that most carbon co-benefit arises from the shutdown of both coal-fired-only power plants and power-generating units.

• Published version, [Link]; Accepted Version, [PDF]

“The Effects of Fuel Prices and Vehicle Sales on Fuel-Saving Technology Adoption in Passenger Vehicles”, with Thomas Klier and Joshua Linn, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, June 2020, 29 (3): 543-578

• Summary: We document two channels that drive fuel-saving technology adoption, fuel prices and sales. An increase in gas prices drives carmakers to improve technology for low-fuel-economy vehicles directly as it raises WTP for fuel savings more for these vehicles. In contrast, it drives carmakers to improve technology for high-fuel-economy vehicles indirectly as it increases the sales disproportionately more for those vehicles.

• Published version, [Link]; Latest version, January 2020, [PDF]; RFF Discussion Paper DP-16-26-REV Version [Link]; Previous Titled “The Effects of Fuel Costs and Market Size on Fuel-Saving Technology Adoption: Direct and Indirect Effects” and “The Effect of Market Size on Fuel-Saving Technology Adoption in Passenger Vehicles”

“The Effect of Fuel Price Changes on Fleet Demand for New Vehicle Fuel Economy”, with Benjamin Leard and Virginia McConnell, The Journal of Industrial Economics, July 2019, 67 (1): 127-159

• Summary: Private companies and government agencies, or “fleet” buyers, represent a large share of new vehicle demand in the US. We find them respond to fuel price variation similar to household buyers.

• Published version, [Link]; Latest version, November 2018, [PDF]; RFF Discussion Paper DP-17-25 Version, [Link]; RFF Resource Article, [Link]

Selected Working Papers

[New] “Charged Up? Impacts of Green Energy Transition on Local Labor Markets”, with Hei-Sing Ron Chan, November 2025, Reject and Resubmit, Resubmitted, Journal of Human Resources, [Link]

“Just a Minute”, with Tom Lam, February 2023, Under Review, [PDF]

Selected Work in Progress

“Knowledge Capital, Technology Adoption, and Environmental Policies: Evidence from the US Automobile Industry”, February 2016, [PDF]