Severin Borenstein

Severin Borenstein is E.T. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the Haas School of Business and faculty director of the Energy Institute at Haas. He is also Director emeritus of the University of California Energy Institute (1994-2014). He received his AB from UC Berkeley and PhD in Economics from MIT. His research focuses on business competition, strategy, and regulation. He has published extensively on the airline industry, the oil and gasoline industries, and electricity markets. His current research projects include the economics of renewable energy, economic policies for reducing greenhouse gases, and alternative models of retail electricity pricing. Borenstein is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA. He served on the Board of Governors of the California Power Exchange from 1997 to 2003. During 1999-2000, he was a member of the California Attorney General’s Gasoline Price Task Force. In 2010-11, Borenstein was a member of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s Future of Aviation Advisory Committee. In 2012-13, he served on the Emissions Market Assessment Committee, which advised the California Air Resources Board on the operation of California’s Cap and Trade market for greenhouse gases. In 2014, he was appointed to the California Energy Commission’s Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, which he chaired from 2015 until the Committee was dissolved in 2017. Since 2015, he has served on the Advisory Council of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. In 2019, he was appointed to the Governing Board of the California Independent System Operator. Read More

Expertise and Research Interests

• Energy Policy and Climate Change
• Electricity Deregulation, Market Formation and Competition
• US and International Airline Competition
• Oil and Gasoline Market Pricing and Competition

Education
PhD, Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BA, Economics, UC Berkeley
Positions Held
At Haas since 1996
2015 – present, Chair, Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, California Energy Commission
2009 – present, E.T. Grether Chair in Business Administration and Public Policy
1996 – present, Professor, Haas School of Business
2014 – 2015, Member, Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, California Energy Commission
2009 – 2014, Co-Director, Energy Institute at Haas
1994 – 1996, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, UC Davis
1990 – 1994, Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, UC Davis
1983 – 1990, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Department of Economics and Institute of Public Policy Studies, University of Michigan
1978 – 1979, Staff Economist, Office of Economic Analysis, US Civil Aeronautics Board
Visiting Positions
Professor of Strategic Management, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
Associate Professor, Distance Learning MBA for Cathay Pacific Airlines School of Business Administration, University of Michigan Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, UC Davis
External Service and Assignments
- Editorial Board Member, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy - Editorial Board Member, Journal of Economic Literature - Co-Director, Center for the Study of Energy Markets - Associate editor, Review of Economics and Statistics - Director, University of California Energy Institute - Research associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

Current Research and Interests
- Energy policy and climate change - Electricity deregulation, market formation and competition - US and international airline competition - Oil and gasoline market pricing and competition - Efficiency and cost-cutting in firms

 
Selected Papers and Publications
- “On the Efficiency of Competitive Electricity Markets with Time-Invariant Retail Prices,” with Stephen Holland. Rand Journal of Economics 36 (2005). - “The Long-Run Efficiency of Real-Time Electricity Pricing.” Energy Journal 26, no. 3 (2005). - “The Impact of Bankruptcy on Airline Service Levels,” with Nancy Rose. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 93 (2003). - “The Trouble with Electricity Markets: Understanding California’s Restructuring Disaster.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 16 (Winter 2002). - “Sticky Prices, Inventories, and Market Power in Wholesale Gasoline Markets,” with Andrea Shepard. Rand Journal of Economics 33 (Spring 2002). - “Measuring Market Inefficiencies in California’s Restructured Wholesale Electricity Market,” with James Bushnell and Frank Wolak. American Economic Review 92 (December 2002).

Honors and Awards
- Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award (for graduate student mentoring), UC Berkeley - Hewlett Foundation/Energy Foundation Research Grant, “Price Responsive Demand in Electricity Markets.” 2002 - National Bureau of Economic Research/Sloan Foundation Research Grant (with Joseph Farrell). “Why Do Firms Cut Costs?” 1998-present - Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, Full-Time MBA Program, 1997 - University-wide Energy Research Group Research Grant, (with Colin Cameron). “Asymmetric Retail Gasoline Price Responses to Crude Oil Price Changes.” 1991-93 - Michigan Economic Society Undergraduate Teaching Award, Fall 1987 - National Science Foundation Research Grant #SES-8711576. “Efficiency in the Allocation of Operating Licenses.” 1987-90