Robert Metcalfe
@rmetcalfe.bsky.social
Economist, Prof at Columbia University. Chief Economist: Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group). Co-editor: Journal of Public Economics. 1st gen, 🏴 https://www.rmetcalfe.net/
Tried to create an interactive tool for this paper. Any thoughts would be very welcome. rmetcalfe.net/demand-turnu...
NBER@nber.org · 7d agoCurtailing renewables wastes cheap, clean energy. In nationwide trials in Great Britian and Spain, letting prices go to zero for consumers captured welfare gains curtailment leaves behind, from Daniel Lopez Garcia, @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, Andrew R. Schein, and Yixin Sun www.nber.org/papers/w35530
Curtailing renewables wastes cheap, clean energy. In nationwide trials in Great Britian and Spain, letting prices go to zero for consumers captured welfare gains curtailment leaves behind, from Daniel Lopez Garcia, @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, Andrew R. Schein, and Yixin Sun www.nber.org/papers/w35530
Demand flexibility is key to the future grid but does it work at scale? A 2.6M-customer field experiment finds consumers cut peak demand by 23 percent, with EVs, batteries, and heat pumps, from Louise Bernard, @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, and Andrew Schein www.nber.org/papers/w35485
⏳ Only 10 days left to submit your paper! Don't miss the chance to present your environmental and resource economics research at our "Occasional" workshop from Nov 5-7th on the beautiful @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social campus. 🔗 Learn more and submit here: occasionalworkshop.weebly.com/submission.h...
Environmental Markets Lab (emLab)@emlab.ucsb.edu · 2mo agoWe're excited to announce the Occasional Workshop in Environmental and Resource Economics will be held November 5-7, 2026! 🗣️ Call for paper submissions! If you're interested in presenting at the Occasional, please submit your paper by July 31st: occasionalworkshop.weebly.com/submission.h...
One of the fastest ways to slow the UK’s clean energy transition? Introduce electricity block rate tariffs. Here’s why this seemingly simple policy gets the economics wrong. 👇 www.centrefornetzero.org/news/case-ag... @centrefornetzero.bsky.social
centrefornetzero.org
What if, instead of paying wind farms to switch OFF, we paid households to switch ON? New paper: we ran nationwide natural field experiments in 🇬🇧 and 🇪🇸 with ~120,000 households to find out. 🧵
This is based on a recently published AER paper by Hahn, Hendren, @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, @bsprungkeyser.bsky.social: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=... Ungated preprint is here: rmetcalfe.net/HahnHendrenM... Great to see a climate policy article published in a top-five econ journal!
A Welfare Analysis of Policies Impacting Climate Change
(July 2026) - We study the welfare impacts of 96 climate-related tax and spending policies. We extend and apply the marginal value of public funds (MVPF) framework, most notably providing a new method...
aeaweb.org
EVs are the marquee climate subsidy. They also have one of the lowest returns per dollar spent. New MVPF analysis: wind production tax credits deliver $5.87 in social benefit per $1 spent. Residential solar: $3.86. EV subsidies: $1.45.
I think @lindsaytedds.bsky.social might appreciate this. MVPF in the latest issue of the AER! Hahn, Hendren, @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, @bsprungkeyser.bsky.social: A Welfare Analysis of Policies Impacting Climate Change www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
A Welfare Analysis of Policies Impacting Climate Change
(July 2026) - We study the welfare impacts of 96 climate-related tax and spending policies. We extend and apply the marginal value of public funds (MVPF) framework, most notably providing a new method...
aeaweb.org
Analysis of 7 years of student test performance data in the UK by @rmetcalfe.bsky.social et al suggests the football World Cup tournament coinciding with high stakes exams reduces the odds of meeting the required benchmark by 12% (28% for keen football fans): buff.ly/qS5JPmG
Merger proposals create a selection effect: even if market power and efficiency gains are unrelated overall, proposed mergers will often show a negative correlation between them, from @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, Alexandre B. Sollaci, and Chad Syverson www.nber.org/papers/w35221
📢 CALL FOR PAPERS: Reminder to submit by May 29, 2026 The 2026 Advances with Field Experiments Conference will take place September 17–18, 2026, at the University of Chicago. The conference brings together researchers advancing the frontier of field experiments across many disciplines.
Important new paper by Robert Metcalfe, Alexandre Sollaci & Chad Syverson. They show that proposed mergers that lead to greater market power will have smaller efficiencies & vice versa. This has important implications for enforcement agencies & courts in assessing mergers. www.nber.org/papers/w35221
Proposed Mergers Where Efficiencies Are Needed Most Might Be the Least Likely to Deliver Them
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
I reviewed the new "Experimental Economics: Theory and Practice" by John List after teaching it for the first time this semester to Columbia PhD students. drive.google.com/file/d/1kUto...
Applications are now open for the 2026 Price Theory Summer Camp! Designed for PhD students outside UChicago, the program focuses on applying core economic tools to real problems. 🗓️ June 14–18 📝 Apply by March 1 🔗 https://ow.ly/k6ON50Y8mQt
AI can cut peak electricity demand at scale. A large natural field experiment shows AI-managed EV charging cuts peak load 42 percent and shifts usage to cleaner hours, from @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, Andrew Schein, Cohen R. Simpson, and Yixin Sun www.nber.org/papers/w34709
Best workshop, best keynote and best time to visit London! Submit your paper/abstract. Deadline Feb 1.
New @nber.org paper by myself, @the-scheining.bsky.social, Yixin Sun from @centrefornetzero.bsky.social, & Cohen Simpson. We study the largest field experiment on AI-managed EV charging, showing that it can reduce peak demand, lower costs, and cut emissions without disrupting household routines.
I attended the lecture by Hendren and Sprung - Keyser and it was excellent!
Robert Metcalfe@rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 7mo agoThe AEA has posted eight "Recent Developments" lectures exploring highly topical issues in economics, presented by the best scholars in the field: www.aeaweb.org/conference/w... Well worth a watch!
The AEA has posted eight "Recent Developments" lectures exploring highly topical issues in economics, presented by the best scholars in the field: www.aeaweb.org/conference/w... Well worth a watch!
I’m really looking forward to this and hope you’ll consider joining us!
Robert Metcalfe@rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 7mo agoExcited to announce that this year's Advances with Field Experiments conference will take place at the University of Chicago on September 17-18, 2026. @johnlist.bsky.social and I will send out a call for abstracts early in the Spring. bfi.uchicago.edu/events/event... @katymilkman.bsky.social
Excited to announce that this year's Advances with Field Experiments conference will take place at the University of Chicago on September 17-18, 2026. @johnlist.bsky.social and I will send out a call for abstracts early in the Spring. bfi.uchicago.edu/events/event... @katymilkman.bsky.social
📢 Call for Papers! The 9th Annual LSE/Imperial Workshop on Environmental Econ. will be held in London June 8-9 ✅ Submissions by Feb 1 📄 Full papers only (no abstracts) 🎤 Keynote: Prof. @rmetcalfe.bsky.social 🔗 more details here: www.lse.ac.uk/geography-an...
9th Annual LSE/Imperial Workshop on Environmental Economics
Information about the LSE Department of Geography and Environment's Environmental Economics Workshop.
lse.ac.uk
I look forward to catching up with folks at the Columbia Economics #ASSA2026 reception on Saturday evening in Marriott Downtown, Room 407. www.aeaweb.org/conference/2...
American Economic Association
aeaweb.org
Expanding on this. The rise of LLMs push the role of data scientists closer to systems engineers and away from coders. Systems engineering is about turning competing stakeholder demands into consensus criteria for judging a solution and coming up with ways to verify whether criteria have been met.
Jon Mellon@jonmellon.bsky.social · 7mo agoI’ve seen some junior data scientists really rise to the challenge of AI and have bigger impacts than you could have expected of someone with that experience level. I’m cautiously optimistic for then in the next year or two
A large UK field experiment—110,000 drivers, 60 percent of public chargers—found that cutting prices by 40 percent increased charging by 117 percent. Consumers respond fast, large grid benefits, from Bernard, Hackett, @rmetcalfe.bsky.social, Panzone, and Schein www.nber.org/papers/w34600
New @nberpubs: "The Impact of Dynamic Prices on Electric Vehicle Public Charging Demand: Evidence from a Nationwide Natural Field Experiment" www.nber.org/papers/w34600 "Our findings suggest that dynamic pricing for public EV charging generated large consumer welfare gains."
Hannah's work shows that, when the minimum wage increases, schedule unpredictability goes up too. Perhaps not surprising (but very hard to show)--as the wage goes up, workers pay in other ways. She is on the market and has a number of very cool and important papers! hannahfarkas.github.io
Hannah Farkas@hannah-farkas.bsky.social · 9mo agoExcited to see my JMP cited in the Economist—it highlights the tradeoffs workers could face with a higher minimum wage and suggests more worker protections like Fair Workweek laws could be important alongside minimum wage increases www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Super excited to see Hannah's JMP in the Economist this week! She uses detailed data to show how firms pass the risk of weather-driven shift changes on to workers in food & bev / retail, & that minimum wages actual *worsen* that effect! #econsky #climsky #climate #jmp #jmc #susdev
Hannah Farkas@hannah-farkas.bsky.social · 9mo agoExcited to see my JMP cited in the Economist—it highlights the tradeoffs workers could face with a higher minimum wage and suggests more worker protections like Fair Workweek laws could be important alongside minimum wage increases www.economist.com/finance-and-...
