Research & Work in Progress

1. Do Gasoline Price Changes Shift Mobility Choices? Evidence from German Walking Behavior [Working Paper]

Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

• Jim Gaisford Second Year Paper Prize, University of Calgary
• Honourable Mention for Best Student Paper, CREEA Annual Conference

Abstract. Gasoline price policies are central to transportation decarbonization, yet little is known about whether higher fuel costs shift behavior toward non-motorized travel. This paper examines how gasoline price changes affect walking in Germany using regional daily step data from consumer wearables between 2020 and 2022. I study walking responses to both routine gasoline price fluctuations and large, salient price shocks. I find robust evidence that higher gasoline prices causally increase walking. Responses are modest for routine price variation but substantially larger for policy-driven shocks. By contrast, I find no clear evidence that geopolitical-conflict-driven price shocks generate a larger response than routine fluctuations. Overall, the findings suggest that fuel price policies can induce low-carbon mobility shifts along an overlooked margin and may also generate meaningful short-run health co-benefits through increased walking.

2. Do Pricing Algorithms Change Tax Pass-Through? Station-Level Evidence from Germany’s Fuel-Tax Cut (with Ajornie Taylor)

Work in Progress

3. Strategic Response to Environmental Shocks: The Political Economy of Bank Branch Allocation in China (with Kangyu Qiu and Shukang Xiao)

Work in Progress; all preliminary results completed