Research
Fast Chargers, Sluggish Responses: Competition in the Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Market
Abstract: Fast charging stations are considered crucial to hastening electric vehicle adoption and reducing emissions, but due to a lack of data, there has been little research on competition or consumer behavior. I compile novel price and quantity data to study the effect of fast charging station openings on incumbent station charging quantities and prices. I implement a difference in differences design that leverages the timing of nearby station entry. I find that incumbent stations’ quantities and prices are largely unresponsive to competitor entry, but that following the entry of another station owned by the same network, charging decreases significantly and stations lower prices by around 7.5% of price margins. My price results contrast with the retail gasoline market, where new station entry brings down prices at competing incumbents but not stations under the same ownership. These differences may be due to both charging station capacity constraints and high market segmentation from charging networks’ use of proprietary mobile applications and subscription plans. My results suggest policies aimed at reducing search frictions (such as price posting regulation) could increase the consumer benefits of current charging station subsidy programs.
The Impact of Noise Pollution on Standardized Test Performance [Draft][SSRN]
Abstract: Noise pollution has become so ubiquitous in urban life that it is generally considered innocuous. However, research suggests that noise pollution can be more than a minor distraction and is associated with diminished health and productivity. I leverage exogenous shifts in noise pollution from a change in commercial flight paths and use a value-added model that accounts for student ability and school quality to estimate the causal impact of airplane noise pollution on standardized test performance. I find a large negative impact on math test performance, but no impact on English language art test performance. Moving from a school at the 25th percentile of exposure in my dataset to one at the 75th percentile is associated with a math test score reduction of 0.05 standard deviations, larger than the impact of missing 10 school days during the year. Additionally, I find evidence that these negative impacts may be driven by the loudest days. These findings suggest a potentially large value to investing in noise insulation for schools exposed to high noise levels.