Dr. Nicolas Koch

Head of the Policy Evaluation Lab and Senior Researcher

Dr. Nicolas Koch

Dr. Nicolas Koch is head of the Policy Evaluation Lab and a Senior Researcher in the working group Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change. He is an environmental economist drawing from the fields of urban and transportation economics, health economics, and applied microeconomics in general. His research combines methodologies for causal impact and welfare analysis with the power of big data to improve public policy making on pressing environmental policy challenges. Specific areas in which he conducted research include the workings of the EU Emissions Trading System, the costs of air pollution, road pricing, the nexus of firm productivity & the environment, and forest conservation policies. He is a Research Fellow at IZA and RWI.

He completed his PhD at the University of Hamburg. Previously he studied economics in Marburg, Kiel, Hamburg and Paris. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of East Anglia, and a visiting lecturer at BEM Bordeaux Management School. Nicolas has published articles in, amongst others, AEJ: Economic Policy, PNAS, Nature Climate Change, Nature Energy, JAERE, JEEM, and JUE.

 

Curriculum vitae

Detailed CV with list of publications

 

Selected publications

Killing Prescriptions Softly: Low Emission Zones and Child Health from Birth to School
with Hannah Klauber, Felix Holub, Nico Pestel, Nolan Ritter, and Alexander Rohlf
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (accepted)
[IZA Discussion Paper

The Effects of Cash for Clunkers on Local Air Quality
with Ines Helm, Alexander Rohlf
Journal of Urban Economics
[Published Paper][CESifo Working Paper] [IZA Discussion Paper]

The Welfare Costs of Job Loss and Decarbonization– Evidence from Germany's Coal Phase Out
with Luke Haywood, and Markus Janser
Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (accepted)
[IZA Discussion Paper]; related paper on early retirement program in [Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik] (German only)
Media: [IZA Newsroom] [WiWo]

Spillovers to manufacturing plants from multi-million dollar plantations: evidence from the Indonesian palm oil boom
with Sebastian Kraus, and Robert Heilmayr
Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (accepted)
[Working Paper]

Attributing agnostically-detected large reductions in road CO2 emissions to policy mixes
with Lennard Naumann, Felix Pretis, Nolan Ritter, and Moritz Schwarz
Nature Energy (2022)
[Published Paper][Preprint][Data and code]
Media: [Deutschlandfunk] [WDR] [Bild der Wissenschaft] [Der Standard] [Morning News]

No aggregate deforestation reductions from rollout of community land titles in Indonesia yet
with Sebastian Kraus, Jacqueline Liu, and Sabine Fuss
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021) 
[Published Paper][Data and code]
Media: [Mongabay] [Sina.com](Chinese)

Provisional COVID-19 infrastructure induces large, rapid increases in cycling
with Sebastian Kraus
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021) 
[Published Paper][Preprint][Data and code]
Media: [NYT][Süddeutsche][Forbes][Video]

The effect of clean air on pharmaceutical expenditures
with Alexander Rohlf, Felix Holub, and Nolan Ritter
Economics Letters (2020)
[Published Paper]
Media: [BR] [Bayern 2] [Ärzteblatt] [ÄrzteZeitung]

Does the EU Emissions Trading System induce investment leakage? Evidence from German multinational firms
with Houdou Basse Mama
Energy Economics (2019)
[Published Paper]
Media: [Tagesspiegel] [FR] [Common Economics Blog]

Agricultural Productivity and Forest Conservation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon
with Erasmus zu Ermgassen, Johanna Wehkamp, Francisco Oliveira Filho, and Gregor Schwerhoff
American Journal of Agricultural Economics (2019)
[Published Paper]
Media: [Medium] [Mongabay]

Politics matters: Regulatory events as catalysts for price formation under cap-and-trade
with Godefroy Grosjean, Sabine Fuss, and Ottmar Edenhofer
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (2016)
[Published Paper]
Media: [Carbon Pulse]

 

Recent working papers

Spillovers to manufacturing plants from multi-million dollar plantations: evidence from the Indonesian palm oil boom
with Sebastian Kraus, and Robert Heilmayr
[Working Paper] accepted at Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Determinants of Heat Risk in an Aging Population: A Machine Learning Approach
with Hannah Klauber
[IZA Discussion Paper] [related Published Paper (German only)] [Interactive Web-Tool]
Media: [Deutschlandfunk] [Zeit (article)] [Zeit (visualization)] [FAZ] [Tagesspiegel] [Ärztezeitung]

Heat increases experienced racial segregation in the United States
with Till Baldenius, Hannah Klauber, Nadja Klein
[Working Paper]

Machine Learning from Big GPS Data about the Heterogeneous Costs of Congestion
with Nolan Ritter, Alexander Rohlf, and Ben Thies
[Working Paper]

The Welfare Impact of Using Second-Best Uniform Taxes to Address Traffic Congestion
with Johanna Arlinghaus
[Working Paper]

Effectiveness of carbon pricing – A systematic review and meta-analysis of the ex-post literature
with Niklas Döbbeling-Hildebrandt et al.
[Working Paper]

Gasoline Price and the Effectiveness of Interventions Targeting Healthier Transport Modes: A Meta-Analysis
with Guillaume Chevance, Baptiste Andrieu, Cathryn Tonne, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, and Paquito Bernard
[Working Paper]

What If Working from Home Will Stick? Distributional and Climate Impacts for Germany
with Marion Bachelet, Matthias Kalkuhl
[IZA Discussion Paper]
Media: IZA Newsroom, WiWo

Effects of thermal inversion induced air pollution on COVID-19
with Hannah Klauber, and Sebastian Kraus
[Working Paper][Data and code]

 

 

Contributions to recent policy debates (mainly German)

Impacts of EU combustion engine ban in Germany

  • [Ariadne Anlyse] "Klima- und Verteilungswirkung eines Verbrenner-Neuzulassungsverbots von Pkw in Deutschland und die Rolle des CO2-Preises"

Distributional impacts of climate policy in transport sector

 

 

Latest Publications

Bruckner, B., Edenhofer, O., Koch, N., Steckel, J. , 2023

A Regulatory Framework that Would Enable Firms to Compete Internationally without Degrading the Environment

Global Solutions – The World Policy Forum
Type
Sonstige
Seibert, D., Bolz, M., Koch, N., Baldenius, T., 2022

Klima- und Verteilungswirkung eines Verbrenner- Neuzulassungsverbots von Pkw in Deutschland und die Rolle des CO2-Preises

Ariadne-Analyse
Type
Sonstige
Amberg, M., aus dem Moore, N., Bekk, A., Bergmann, T., Edenhofer, O., Flachsland, C., George, J., Haywood, L., Heinemann, M., Held, A., Kalkuhl, M., Kellner, M., Koch, N., Luderer, G., Meyer, H., Nikodinoska, D., Pahle, M., Roolfs, C., Schill, W.P., 2022

Reformoptionen für ein nachhaltiges Steuer- und Abgabensystem

Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik
Type
Peer Review
Koch, N., Naumann, L., Pretis, F., Ritter, N., Schwarz, M., 2022

Attributing agnostically-detected large reductions in road CO2 emissions to policy mixes

Nature Energy
Type
Peer Review
Koch, N., Themann, M. , 2022

Catching up and falling behind: Cross-country evidence on the impact of the EU ETS on firm productivity

Resource and Energy Economics
Type
Peer Review