Peter Christensen

Associate Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz

Faculty Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

Selected Work in Progress:

"Ridehailing and the ‘First/Last Mile’ Challenge in Public Transit: Experimental Evidence from a Ride-2-Connect Program." with Lewis Lehe, Gustavo Nino and Adam Osman

"Measuring the Social Cost of Flood Delays in Urban Transport: Evidence from São Paulo"
with Amanda Ang and Antonio Bento

"Does Camera-Based Speed Enforcement Reduce Traffic Fatalities in Developing Country Cities?"
with Gabriel Kreindler and Renato Vieira

Working Papers:

"Racial Housing Price Differentials and Neighborhood Segregation"
with Sebastien Box-Couillard
NBER Working Paper #32815

"Incentive-Based Pay and Building Decarbonization: Experimental Evidence from the Weatherization Assistance Program." with Paul Francisco and Erica Myers
NBER Working Paper #31322

"Racial Discrimination and Housing Outcomes in the United States Rental Market"
with Ignacio Sarmiento and Chris Timmins
NBER Working Paper #29516

"The Demand for Mobility: Evidence from an Experiment with Uber Riders"
(revise & resubmit, Journal of Political Economy)
with Adam Osman
NBER Working Paper #31330

Published and Forthcoming:

[17] "How to Spend One Trillion Dollars: The US Decarbonization Conundrum."
Christensen, P., Baylis, P., Li, S., McCord, G., Muehlegger, E., Myers, E., Smith, E.N, Rapson, D.
Nature 634 (8036), 1050-1052.

[16] "Energy Efficiency Can Deliver For Climate Policy: Evidence From Machine Learning-Based Targeting."
Christensen, P., Francisco, P., Myers, E., Shao, H., and Souza, M. 2024. Journal of Public Economics 234, 105098
NBER Working Paper #30467

[15] "Weathering the Ride: Experimental Evidence on Transport Pricing, Climate Extremes, and Future Travel Demand." Christensen, P., Stocker, A., and Osman, A. 2024. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 125, 102978.

[14] "The Damages and Distortions from Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market."
Christsnsen, P. and Timmins, C. 2023. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 138 (4), 2505-2557.
Github Repository NBER Working Paper #29049

[13] "Economic Effects of Environmental Crises: Evidence from Flint, Michigan" Christensen, P., Keiser, D., and Lade, G. 2023. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 15(1), pp.196-232.
AbstractSSRN Working Paper

[12] "Decomposing the Wedge Between Projected and Realized Returns in Energy Efficiency Programs"
Christensen, P., Myers, E., Francisco, P., and Souza, M. 2023. Review of Economics and Statistics, 105 (4): 798–817.
E2e Working Paper #46

[11] "Sorting or Steering: The Effects of Housing Discrimination on Location Choice"
Christensen, P. and Timmins, C. 2022. Journal of Political Economy, 130:8: 2110–2163.
AbstractNBER Working PaperGithub Repository

[10] "A Market for Snow: Modeling Winter Recreation Patterns Under Current and Future Climate"
Parthum, B. and Christensen, P., 2022. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 113, 102637.
ArticleWorking Paper

[9] "Housing Discrimination and the Toxics Exposure Gap in the United States: Evidence from the Rental Market"
Christensen, P., Sarmiento, I. and Timmins, C., 2022. Review of Economics and Statistics, 0034-6535, 1-37.
ArticleNBER Working PaperGithub Repository

[8] "Should Congested Cities Reduce their Speed Limits? Evidence from Sao Paulo, Brazil"
Ang, A., Christensen, P. and Vieira, R. 2020. Journal of Public Economics, 184, 104155.
ArticleGithub Repository

[7] "Unlocking Amenities: Complementarity in Public Good Consumption"
Albouy, D., Christensen, P. and Sarmiento-Barbieri, I. 2020. Journal of Public Economics, 182, 104110.
ArticleNBER Working PaperGithub Repository

[6] "Suburbs or Skyscrapers: The Effect of China’s Land Leasing Market on Housing Decentralization"
Christensen, P. 2019. Land Economics, 95(4): 557-576.
Article

[5] "Uncertainty in Forecasts of Long-Run Economic Growth."
Christensen, P., Gillingham, K., and Nordhaus. W. 2018.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(21): 5409–5414
Article

[4] "Modeling Uncertainty in Integrated Assessment of Climate Change: A Multimodel Comparison".
Gillingham, K., Nordhaus, W. D., Anthoff, D., Blanford, G., Bosetti, V., Christensen, P., McJeon, H., and Reilly, J. 2018.
Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 5(4): 791-826.
Article

[3] "Geographic Determinants of China’s Urbanization"
Christensen, P. and McCord, G. C. 2016.
Regional Science and Urban Economics, 59: 90-102.
Article

[2] "Remote Sensing Science to Inform Urban Climate Change Mitigation Strategies"
Seto, K. C. and Christensen, P. 2013.
Urban Climate, 3: 1-6.
Article

[1] "A Ricardian Analysis of Mexican Farms"
Mendelsohn, R., Arellano-Gonzalez, J., and Christensen P. 2010.
*Environment and Development Economics*, 15(2): 153-171
Article