Jonathan Hughes

About

Jonathan Hughes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests encompass energy, environmental economics, and empirical industrial organization. His current research focuses on the consequences of the adoption of environmental policies in energy markets, climate change policy, and the dynamics within gasoline, electricity, and renewable energy markets. Hughes's work also explores the land use aspects of biofuel production and the impacts of climate change policy in the transportation sector. He holds a PhD from the University of California at Davis, an MS from Cornell University, and a BS from Duke University. His academic background and research contributions are centered on understanding the economic and environmental implications of energy and climate policies.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Geography
• Engineering
• Political Science
• Economics
• Environmental resource management
• Demography
• Environmental science
• Data science
• Natural resource economics

Selected publications

• Strategic Policy Choice in State-Level Regulation: The EPA's Clean Power Plan

  American Economic Journal Economic Policy · 2017-04-26 · 70 citations

  article

  The EPA's Clean Power Plan sets goals for CO 2 emissions rate reductions by 2030 that vary substantially across states. States can choose the regulatory mechanism they use and whether or not to join with other states in implementing their goals. We analyze incentives to adopt rate standards versus cap-and-trade with theory and simulation. We show conditions where adoption of inefficient rate standards is a dominant strategy from both consumers' and generators’ perspectives. Numerical simulations…

  PublisherDOI

• Decline in Traffic Congestion Increased Crash Severity in the Wake of COVID-19

  Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · 2022 · 45 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Highway fatalities are a leading cause of death in the U.S. and other industrialized countries. Using highly detailed crash, speed, and flow data, we show highway travel and motor vehicle crashes fell substantially in California during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we also show the frequency of severe crashes increased owing to lower traffic congestion and higher highway speeds. This "speed effect" is largest in counties with high pre-existing levels of congestion, and we show…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Demand for Rarity: Evidence from a Collectible Good*

  Journal of Industrial Economics · 2022-02-28 · 21 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Markets for art, coins and other collectibles, culinary delicacies and eco‐tourism suggest that consumers value the rarity of many goods. While empirical evidence supports higher prices for rare goods, isolating the value of rarity has proven difficult. I analyze prices for a collectible card game and show goods that are designated as rare trade at higher prices than functionally equivalent substitutes. Importantly, I use novel features of this market to account for scarcity, observed and unobse…

  PublisherDOI

• WHEN SHOULD DRIVERS BE ENCOURAGED TO CARPOOL IN HOV LANES?

  Economic Inquiry · 2018-09-28 · 17 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Policies to encourage carpooling in high‐occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes have been adopted in the United States to lower congestion and reduce air pollution. We analytically model highway congestion and other vehicle‐related externalities. Encouraging carpooling decreases total costs when congestion relief in mainline lanes outweighs increased HOV lane congestion. Importantly, entry of new drivers via induced demand can negate the benefits of increased carpooling. Using 10 years of traffic data fr…

  PublisherDOI

• WHO (ELSE) BENEFITS FROM ELECTRICITY DEREGULATION? COAL PRICES, NATURAL GAS, AND PRICE DISCRIMINATION

  Economic Inquiry · 2020-04-15 · 8 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Deregulation of major industries over the past 40 years has produced large efficiency gains. However, distributional effects have been more difficult to assess. In the electricity sector, deregulation has vastly increased information available to market participants through the formation of wholesale markets. We test whether upstream suppliers, specifically railroads that transport coal from mines to power plants, use this information to capture economic rents that would otherwise accrue to elec…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen P. Holland

  Yale University

  41 shared

• Christopher R. Knittel

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  39 shared

• Nathan Parker

  Arizona State University

  16 shared

• James Bushnell

  12 shared

• Aaron Smith

  8 shared

• Daniel Kaffine

  University of Colorado Boulder

  7 shared

• William J. Sutherland

  7 shared

• Ana S. L. Rodrigues

  Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive

  5 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  University of California at Davis

• M.S.

  Cornell University

• B.S.

  Duke University

Similar researchers at University of Colorado Boulder

• Wolfgang Kellerh-53
• Miles Spencer Kimballh-45
• Yongmin Chenh-39