Alberto Salvo

Education

• PhD, 2005, Economics, London School of Economics
• MSc, 2000, Economics, London School of Economics, Gained Distinction
• BEng, 1994, Industrial Engineering, University of Sao Paulo (EP-USP), Ranked 3rd among 550 engineering graduates

Companies

• Associate Professor National University of Singapore (2013)
• Assistant Professor Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (2005 — 2013)
• Group Manager Procter & Gamble (1994 — 1999)

Teaching Areas

Currently: “Environmental Economics” and “Environmental Economics & Policy” (Undergraduate), “Empirical Industrial Organization” (PhD)

Previously: “International Business Strategy” (MBA), “Industrial Organization and Antitrust Policy” (Summer School), “Microeconomic Principles II” (Undergraduate)

Research Interests

Environmental & Energy Economics, Industrial Organization, and Applied Microeconomics in general. My current research falls under the broad theme: “Individual Behavior, the Environment, and Socioeconomic Outcomes.” I study how the behavior and incentives of economic agents, such as households, workers and firms, interact with scarce environmental resources, such as air, water and roads. Several current projects relate to households’ awareness of the climate crisis, carbon literacy, and individual action. As my publications indicate, I collaborate across disciplines, including atmospheric sciences and environmental health. My recent work focuses on Asia’s under-studied and globally critical environment and society.

Selected publications

“Willingness to Fight on: Environmental Quality in Dynamic Contests,” (with H. Liu and J. Lu) RAND Journal of Economics, (2022) forthcoming “Adversity-Hope Hypothesis: Air Pollution Raises Daily Lottery Demand in China,” (with S. H. Chew and H. Liu) Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 62, (2021) pp. 247-280

“Declining Discount Rates in Singapore’s Market for Privately Developed Apartments,” (with E. Fesselmeyer and H. Liu) Journal of Applied Econometrics, (2021) forthcoming

“Air Pollution as a Determinant of Food Delivery and Related Plastic Waste,” (with J. Chu and H. Liu) Nature Human Behaviour, 5, (2020) pp. 212-220

“Local Pollution as a Determinant of Residential Electricity Demand,” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 7(5), (2020) pp. 837-872. (This paper won the JAERE Best Paper Award for 2020, awarded by the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists)

“Severe Air Pollution and Labor Productivity: Evidence from Industrial Towns in China,” (with J. He and H. Liu) American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11(1), (2019) pp. 173-201

“Electrical Appliances Moderate Households’ Water Demand Response to Heat,” Nature Communications, 9(5408), (2018) pp.1-14

“Severe Air Pollution and Child Absences When Schools and Parents Respond,” (with H. Liu) Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 92, (2018) pp. 300-330

“External Effects of Diesel Trucks Circulating Inside the São Paulo Megacity,” (with J. He and N. Gouveia) Journal of the European Economic Association, 17(3), (2018) pp. 947-989

“Flexible Fuel Vehicles, Less Flexible Minded Consumers: Price Information Experiments at the Pump,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 92, (2018) pp. 194-221

“Reduced Ultrafine Particle Levels in São Paulo’s Atmosphere During Shifts from Gasoline to Ethanol Use,” (with J. Brito, P. Artaxo and F. M. Geiger) Nature Communications, 8(77), (2017) pp. 1-14

“Ethanol-Blended Gasoline Policy and Ozone Pollution in Urban São Paulo,” (with Y. Wang) Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 4(3), (2017) pp.731-794

"The Rise of Fringe Competitors In the Wake of an Emerging Middle Class: An Empirical Analysis,” (with A. Eizenberg) American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(3), (2015) pp. 85-122

“Reduction in Local Ozone Levels in Urban São Paulo Due to a Shift from Ethanol to Gasoline Use,” (with F. M. Geiger) Nature Geoscience, 7(6) (2014), pp. 450-458

“Build It, But Will They Come? Evidence from Consumer Choice between Gasoline and Sugarcane Ethanol,” (with C.Huse) Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 66(2), (2013) pp. 251-279

“Consumer-Surplus-Enhancing Collusion and Trade,” (with G. Deltas and H. Vasconcelos RAND Journal of Economics, 43(2), (2012) pp. 315-328

“Is Arbitrage Tying the Price of Ethanol to that of Gasoline? Evidence from the Uptake of Flexible-Fuel Technology,'' (with C. Huse) Energy Journal, 32(3), (2011) pp. 119-148

“Inferring Market Power under the Threat of Entry: The Case of the Brazilian Cement Industry,” RAND Journal of Economics, 41(2), (2010) pp. 326-350. (An earlier version of this paper won an Antitrust Policy Award from the Brazilian Ministry of the Treasury in 2007)

“Trade Flows in a Spatial Oligopoly: Gravity Fits Well, But What Does it Explain?,” Canadian Journal of Economics, 43(1), (2010) pp. 63-96. (This paper won the Robert Mundell prize for the best article by a young economist published in 2010 in the Canadian Journal of Economics, awarded by the Canadian Economics Association.)

“Sequential Cross-border Mergers in Models of Oligopoly,” Economica, 77(306), (2010) pp. 352-383

“Cut-throat Fringe Competition in an Emerging Country Market: Tax Evasion or the Absence of Market Power?,” Journal of Industrial Economics, 57(4), (2009) pp. 677-711. (This paper won a Young Economists’ Essay Award from the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (in 2007).)