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Ashley Langer

@alanger.bsky.social

1.3K followers 250 following 37 posts

Industrial Organization and Environmental and Energy Economics | University of Arizona and NBER ashleylanger.com

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Recently the President ordered that coal generators don’t need to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS). My forthcoming JPE paper with Gautam Gowrisankaran and Wendan Zhang on uncertainty surrounding MATS, so it seems like it’s time for a thread! www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy

1. Coal-fired electricity generation is essential to ensuring that our Nation's grid is reliable and that electricity is affordable for the

www.whitehouse.gov

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for having me! It was a great visit!

Reposted by Ashley Langer

John Cawley @johncawley.bsky.social · Aug 22

If you'll be on the #EconJobMarket this coming year, you may want to join this webinar by @aereorg.bsky.social, titled, "Navigating Uncertain Waters: Advice for the Current Job Market," with Min Gong & @adrienneohler.bsky.social. 29 Sept 2025 @ 11am ET.

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Aug 20

This job was central to me becoming an Economist. A great place to try out research and policy analysis!

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · Aug 20

#econ_ra
Brookings RA job
social.icims.com/viewjob/pl17...

Jobs and Internships

social.icims.com

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · May 15

So sad to hear this! I remember conversations with Michael fondly. Thinking of you and all of his family and friends.

Reposted by Ashley Langer

Joseph Shapiro @joseph-s-shapiro.bsky.social · Apr 25

🌎 PhD students: apply to 2025 Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental/Energy Economics!

🔗 Info + application: www.auffhammer.com/summer-school

📅 Deadline: May 14 | Program: Aug 18–22 at Berkeley

w @auffhammer.bsky.social @severinborenstein.bsky.social, TCarleton, MFowlie, KJack...

summer school — Maximilian Auffhammer

www.auffhammer.com

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

13. Excited to see this paper in print soon! Thanks to many for their comments on this! @sebafle.bsky.social @econjim.bsky.social @jonathanelliott.bsky.social @amackay.bsky.social and many others who I don’t think are on here! Special thanks to our editor, John Asker for a great publication process!

Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Resolving this uncertainty later would lead generators on the exit margin to be more likely to exit! Our point is subtle: this is about delaying uncertainty resolution holding the enforcement probability constant. Yet increasing coal exit seems not to be the current administration’s objective!

Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

The executive order responds to stricter MATS standards that the previous administration announced in 2024. The current executive order highlights that changing administrations also contribute to policy uncertainty.

Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Along the way to these results, our paper uses generators’ decisions and state mercury policies to estimate generators’ perceived probabilities of MATS enforcement. In 2014, the year the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments, the perceived enforcement probability fell to 43%!

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Our study shows that, in some cases, policymakers may want to prolong uncertainty until after firms need to make decisions to help achieve policy goals. This contrasts with the “real options” result that higher levels of uncertainty cause delays in irreversible decisions.

Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

If coal had been more profitable and exit unlikely, we’d be on the left of the figure and earlier uncertainty resolution would have increased exit. This is more like the case of adoption of a new, costly technology like residential solar. There, resolving uncertainty earlier increases adoption.

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Why? Cheap natural gas reduced coal’s profitability, leading many coal generators to be close to exiting. Figure 4 of the paper shows that, when such a generator can respond to the court decision, its expected exit probability is lower than if it can’t use this information to decide.

Cumulative distribution function of the probability of exit across expected profit shocks. A blue dashed line on the right indicates the profit shock cutoff with ex-post uncertainty resolution leads to high levels of exit. On either side there are red dashed lines that indicate the two profit shock cutoffs with or without certain enforcement. The figure shows that, in expectation across these two potential exit rates, expected exit is lower if uncertainty is resolved earlier.

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

How does this affect generator exit? The delay between announcement and uncertainty resolution caused more generators to exit. Resolving uncertainty 4 years earlier would have lowered generator profits by $1.4 billion but also reduced pollution damages by up to $1.8 billion.

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

We investigate the EPA’s MATS, which affected coal generators. The original challenges to MATS took 4 years, and generators exited in the interim. With a quicker court decision, they could have taken action in response to the outcome. Instead, they made choices given the expected outcome.

Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Many executive branch policies are challenged in the courts and these challenges can take years to resolve. Yet firms may need to take irreversible actions before the courts have ruled. How might these actions change if policy uncertainty was resolved more quickly?

Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

2. “Policy Uncertainty in the Market for Coal Electricity: The Case of Air Toxics Standards” looks at the original uncertainty surrounding MATS enforcement. MATS was announced in 2012 with 2016 enforcement. It was challenged in the courts but enforced on time. www.ashleylanger.com/files/policy...

www.ashleylanger.com

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 16

Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy

1. Coal-fired electricity generation is essential to ensuring that our Nation's grid is reliable and that electricity is affordable for the

www.whitehouse.gov

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Apr 10

My Stata/C combo didn’t make the paper! 😀

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Reposted by Ashley Langer

Joseph Shapiro @joseph-s-shapiro.bsky.social · Mar 17

🚨Incredible lineup at @nber.org conference this Thurs/Fri 3/20-21: **Energy Markets, Decarbonization, and Trade**

📑Agenda www.nber.org/conferences/...

🎥 Webstream www.youtube.com/nbervideos

Organized w Natalia Ramondo, supported by @sloanfoundation.bsky.social

Energy Markets, Decarbonization, and Trade, Spring 2025

www.nber.org

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Ashley Langer @alanger.bsky.social · Jan 3

What’s the paper? Sorry to miss ASSAs this year!

Reposted by Ashley Langer

Rachel Cole @rmartincole.bsky.social · Jan 3

Applications are now open for the 2025 - 2026 Transportation Library Travel Grant. This grant of up to $3,000 supports research projects that benefit from substantial onsite use of our collections. Learn more here: www.library.northwestern.edu/libraries-co...

Announcement with text "2025-2026 Transportation Library Travel Grant." Background illustration of a skyline featuring buildings from around the world.

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Reposted by Ashley Langer

Phil Haile @philhaile.bsky.social · Jan 3

I've gotten a flurry of requests to access my slides on "Models, Measurement, and Language in Economics" (presumably thanks to the great new year's reading list from @rohitlamba.bsky.social). The file is publicly available via my web page, but here is the link: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ntgkb...

www.dropbox.com

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Reposted by Ashley Langer

AERE @aereorg.bsky.social · Dec 12

🌿 Interested in learning more about the AERE Scholars program? Join us for an info session **today** Dec. 12 at 3pm Eastern/12pm Pacific. 🌿

Register here: https://buff.ly/49zwPMH

Learn more here: https://buff.ly/4grLvzC

Applications for the 2025 cohort will open soon and be due mid-January!

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Reposted by Ashley Langer

Felix Pretis @felixpretis.bsky.social · Dec 11

Save the date: 9th Conference on Econometric Models of Climate Change (EMCC) will be at the University of Victoria BC, Canada, Aug. 27-28, 2025.

Come if you want to learn about climate and econometrics (or just want to visit Vancouver Island...) Formal call for papers to follow in 2025. #EconSky

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Reposted by Ashley Langer

Daniela Scur @danielascur.bsky.social · Dec 11

We are hiring predocs!! Come join us: cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCaree...

#econsky PLEASE RT!

@aaronsojourner.org what was the version of @econ_ra here again? Sorry I forgot!

Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Cornell Collaborative for International Development Economics Research (CIDER), Cornell University

CIDER: The Cornell Collaborative for International Development Economics Research (CIDER) is a new cross-campus venture at Cornell University encompassing 23 faculty from multiple units across the Cor...

cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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