Dr. Nicolas Koch is head of the Policy Evaluation Lab. 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 (2024)
[Published Paper][IZA Discussion Paper][Data and code]
Media: [Spiegel][Focus][ÄrzteZeitung]
Systematic review and meta-analysis of ex-post evaluations on the effectiveness of carbon pricing
with Niklas Döbbeling-Hildebrandt, Klaas Miersch, Tarun M. Khanna et al.
Nature Communications (2024)
[Published Paper][Data and code]
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 (2024)
[Published Paper][IZA Discussion Paper][Data and code]; related paper on early retirement program in [Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik] (German only)
Media: [IZA Newsroom][WiWo][klimareporter][Bertelsmann Stiftung][Makronom]
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 (2024)
[Published Paper][Working Paper][Data and code]
The Effects of Cash for Clunkers on Local Air Quality
with Ines Helm, Alexander Rohlf
Journal of Urban Economics (2023)
[Published Paper][CESifo Working Paper] [IZA Discussion 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]
Adjust urban and rural road pricing for fair mobility
with Felix Creutzig, Aneeque Javaid Brigitte Knopf, Giulio Mattioli, and Ottmar Edenhofer
Nature Climate Change (2020)
[Published Paper] [Blog Post]
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
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]
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
- [ifo Schnelldienst Paper] "Ordnungsrecht versus Preisinstrumente" [Replication Code]; Medien: FAZ (print only), taz, ZDF
- [Ariadne Anaylse] "Zielerreichung nur mit unbequemen Maßnahmen möglich" (with Sebastian Levi et al.); Medien: Spiegel, Tagesspiegel Background
- [Ariadne Hintergrund] "Assessing Climate Policy Instrument Pathways – An Application to the German Light Duty Vehicle Sector" (with Christian Flachsland et al.)
