Energy Economics and Finance Seminar
Event Summary
The seminar series in Energy Economics & Finance (EEF) is jointly organized by Wharton’s Business Economics and Public Policy Department, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and Wharton’s Business, Climate and Environment Lab. The scope of the seminar includes regulation and policy papers. The scope of the seminar also includes environmental and transportation issues, as long as there is a connection with energy. Sessions are biweekly on Mondays from 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Snacks, beer, and wine will be served after the seminar!
For Spring 2026, the seminar will be held in-person in the Kleinman Center Classroom (Fisher Fine Arts Building Room 306).
Find and add a Google Calendar version of the schedule on the BEPP seminar page.
To sign up for the seminar, please send your name, email, and affiliation to Dhivya Kaushik: dhivya@wharton.upenn.edu
Talk Title: Targeting Subsidies Through Price Menus: Menu Design and Evidence from Clean Fuels
Abstract: We demonstrate that design-based non-linear subsidies can be more cost effective than linear subsidies. We consider a policy maker who wants to increase the use of clean cooking fuel while keeping subsidy spending low. Fuel is sold in cylinders (packages)of different sizes, allowing for size-differentiated pricing, but not for limits on the frequency of purchase. We demonstrate implementation in two stages: (1) we gather the empirical inputs needed for a sufficient statistic based approach to designing then on-linear subsidy, then (2) we test the optimal subsidy against counterfactual linear subsidies. Relative to the counterfactual, allocating a larger per-unit subsidy to purchases in the smaller package size, which is taken up by relatively more price sensitive individuals, achieves the same level of clean fuel demand with 30% less in public expenditure. We show, both empirically and theoretically, that intuitive conditions –namely transaction costs and savings constraints – generate frictions that sustain a separating equilibrium when the smaller package is more heavily subsidized. Because poorer households have a preference for small-sized purchases, this non-linear price menu is also progressive.
Link to the full paper
Paulina Oliva
Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences, USCPaulina Oliva is an associate professor in the Economics Department of the University of Southern California. Her work looks at the relationship between air pollution and economic outcomes in large cities of the developing world.
Spring Seminar Dates:
- 2/2: Paulina Oliva (USC)
- 3/23: Charles Taylor (Harvard Kennedy School)
- 4/6: Aymeric Bellon (UNC)
- 4/20: Jeff Shrader (Columbia University)
- 4/27: Teevrat Garg (UC San Diego)
