Catherine Wolfram
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View article: The multinomial dimer model
The multinomial dimer model Open
An $N$-dimer cover of a graph is a collection of edges (with multiplicity) such that each vertex is contained in exactly $N$ edges in the collection. The multinomial dimer model is a natural probability measure on $N$-dimer covers. We stud…
View article: Climate Policy Reform Options in 2025
Climate Policy Reform Options in 2025 Open
With the expiration of many tax cuts and unmet climate targets, 2025 could be a crucial year for climate policy in the United States.Using an integrated model of energy supply and demand, this paper aims to assess climate policies that the…
View article: Replication Data for: 'Digital Collateral'
Replication Data for: 'Digital Collateral' Open
The data and programs replicate tables and figures from "Digital Collateral," by Gertler, Green, and Wolfram. Please see project_file_description for additional details.
View article: Money or Power? Choosing Covid-19 aid in Kenya
Money or Power? Choosing Covid-19 aid in Kenya Open
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, 186 countries implemented direct cash transfers to households, and 181 introduced in-kind programs that lowered the cost of utilities such as electricity, water, transport, and mobile money. During times…
View article: Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary
Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary Open
Jurisdictions adopt climate policies that vary in terms of both ambition and policy approach, with some pricing carbon and others subsidizing clean production. We distinguish two types of policy spillovers from these diverse approaches. Fi…
View article: Design and implementation of the price cap on Russian oil exports
Design and implementation of the price cap on Russian oil exports Open
Basic economics teaches that price caps are bad – limiting the price of a good distorts demand and discourages producers from supplying the market. So why did the Biden Administration, led by Janet Yellen, the consummate economist, champio…
View article: A Theory of Price Caps on Non-Renewable Resources
A Theory of Price Caps on Non-Renewable Resources Open
In December 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a G7-led coalition of countries imposed a $60 per barrel price cap on the sales of Russian oil that use western services.This paper provides a theoretical and quantitative analysis …
View article: Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary
Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary Open
Jurisdictions adopt heterogeneous climate policies that vary both in terms of ambition and in terms of policy approach, with some jurisdictions pricing carbon and others subsidizing clean production.We distinguish two types of policy spill…
View article: Economic Implications of the Climate Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act
Economic Implications of the Climate Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act Open
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents the largest federal response to climate change to date.We highlight the key climate provisions and assess the Act's potential economic impacts.Substantially higher investments in clean energy an…
View article: Large deviations for the 3D dimer model
Large deviations for the 3D dimer model Open
In 2000, Cohn, Kenyon and Propp studied uniformly random perfect matchings of large induced subgraphs of $\mathbb Z^2$ (a.k.a. dimer configurations or domino tilings) and developed a large deviation theory for the associated height functio…
View article: Circle homeomorphisms with square summable diamond shears
Circle homeomorphisms with square summable diamond shears Open
We introduce and the study the space of homeomorphisms of the circle (up to Möbius transformations) which are in $\ell^2$ with respect to modular coordinates called diamond shears along the edges of the Farey tessellation. Diamond shears a…
View article: Measuring Grid Reliability in Ghana
Measuring Grid Reliability in Ghana Open
What challenges arise when deploying a novel technology at increasing scale? This case study details our experience developing and deploying technologies to monitor power outages and voltage fluctuations at high temporal and geographic fre…
View article: Money or Power? Financial Infrastructure and Optimal Policy
Money or Power? Financial Infrastructure and Optimal Policy Open
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, 186 countries implemented direct cash transfers to households, and 181 introduced in-kind programs that lowered the cost of utilities such as electricity, water, transport, and mobile money.Do cash or in…
View article: Disbursing Emergency Relief Through Utilities: Evidence from Ghana
Disbursing Emergency Relief Through Utilities: Evidence from Ghana Open
We provide descriptive evidence on the challenges in efficiently, effectively, and fairly distributing in-kind electricity transfers to households. We collect panel data from 1200 households eligible for Ghana's COVID-19 electricity relief…
View article: Disbursing Emergency Relief through Utilities: Evidence from Ghana
Disbursing Emergency Relief through Utilities: Evidence from Ghana Open
Government transfer programs to distribute food, water, or electricity at low or no cost have been widespread during the COVID-19 global health crisis.How does program design affect the efficiency and distributional implications of these p…
View article: Default Effects And Follow-On Behaviour: Evidence From An Electricity Pricing Program
Default Effects And Follow-On Behaviour: Evidence From An Electricity Pricing Program Open
We study default effects in the context of a residential electricity-pricing program. In the large-scale randomized controlled trial we analyse, one treatment group was given the option to opt-in to time-varying pricing while another was d…
View article: Low Energy: Estimating Electric Vehicle Electricity Use
Low Energy: Estimating Electric Vehicle Electricity Use Open
We provide the first at-scale estimate of electric vehicle (EV) home charging.Previous estimates are either based on surveys that reach conflicting conclusions, or are extrapolated from a small, unrepresentative sample of households with d…