Research

Working papers

Which households respond to electricity peak pricing amid high levels of electrification?, with Øystein Hernæs and Anders Imenes. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15194. CESifo Working Paper No. 9657.

We estimate the effect of critical peak pricing (CPP) on Norwegian households' electricity consumption, using a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) with default enrollment and high-frequency electricity data. A ten-fold increase in the total cost of consuming electricity leads to a 12.5\% reduction in consumption, and virtually eliminates the afternoon consumption ``peak''. In contrast to prior studies from less electrified countries, the effect is broad-based, and similar across income groups. We find little evidence of load shifting to non-CPP hours, except for households with electric vehicles. Furthermore, we document a 2.1\% total net consumption reduction during the five months of the program. These findings provide a unique lens into the effectiveness of demand-based policies, and their impact across household groups, in a more electrified future. [Slides]

Risk Salience or Information Disclosure? The Effect of Climate-Related Risks on the Residential Real Estate Market

When a southern California home gets assigned to a riskier wildfire designation, its price drops on average between 3.0% and 6.3% relative to that of control homes that do not change designation status. Whereas homeowners are discontinuously informed about the risk by the designation, the underlying risk is continuous across a designation boundary, suggesting information disclosure and risk salience are two plausible mechanisms. Furthermore, not all changes in risk designation are capitalized into home prices, while increases and decreases in designations trigger asymmetric price responses. I interpret these findings as pointing to risk salience as the most likely mechanism.

Work in progress

"Weather-Dependent Asset Prices" (with Andreas E. Eriksen)

"Do electricity prices get capitalized into home prices?'' (with D.E. Sommervoll)

"From Brown to Green: Employment Dynamics and Skill Demand in a Low-Carbon Transition'' (with Elisabeth Isaksen and Maria Nareklishvili)

“First or Second-Bidder Advantage in English Auctions? Evidence from Housing Auctions” (with André Anundsen and Erling Røed Larsen)

“Do Social Comparisons Nudge Conservation Effort? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial” (with Joe Herriges and Frank Lupi)

Selected peer-reviewed publications

Garnache, C. and Mérel, P.R. (2022) “Environmental Policy in General Equilibrium: New Insights from a Canonical Model.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 9(1):113–140.

Reeling, C., Horan, R., and Garnache, C. (2020) “When the Levee Breaks: Can Multi‐Pollutant Markets Break the Dam on Point-Nonpoint Market Participation?” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 102(2):625--640.

Garnache, C. and Mérel, P.R. (2017) “The Social Costs of Environmental Goods Provision: A Cautionary Guide to the Revealed-Preference Approach .” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 4(4):1025--1052.

Garnache, C., Mérel, P.R., Lee, J., and Six, J. (2017) “The Social Costs of Second-Best Policies: Evidence from Agricultural GHG Mitigation.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 82:39--73.

Garnache, C., Swinton, S.M., Herriges, J.H., Lupi, F., and Stevenson, R.J. (2016) “Solving the Phosphorus Pollution Puzzle: Synthesis and Directions for Future Research.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 98(5):1334--1359.

Garnache, C. (2015) “Fish, Farmers, and Floods: Coordinating Institutions to Optimize the Provision of Ecosystem Services.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2(3):367--399.