Ashley A Langer

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Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Langer, A., & Lemoine, D. (2022). Designing Dynamic Subsidies to Spur Adoption of New Technologies. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 9(6). doi:10.1086/719949
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  We analyze the efficient subsidy for durable good technologies. We the-oretically demonstrate that a policy maker faces a tension between intertemporally price discriminating by designing a subsidy that increases over time and taking advan-tage of future technological progress by designing a subsidy that decreases over time. Using dynamic estimates of household preferences for residential solar in California, we show that the efficient subsidy increases over time. The regulator’s spending quin-tuples when households anticipate future technological progress and future subsidies.
• Blundell, W., Gowrisankaran, G., & Langer, A. (2020). Escalation of scrutiny: The gains from dynamic enforcement of environmental regulations. American Economic Review, 110(8), 2558--85.
• Langer, A., Maheshri, V., & Winston, C. (2017). From Gallons to Miles: A Disaggregate Analysis of Automobile Travel and Externality Taxes. Journal of Public Economics.
• Langer, A., Maheshri, V., & Winston, C. (2017). From gallons to miles: A disaggregate analysis of automobile travel and externality taxes. JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS, 152, 34-46.
• Anderson, S. T., Kellogg, R., & Sallee, J. M. (2015). The Intergenerational Transmission of Automobile Brand Preferences. Journal of Industrial Economics.
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  We document a strong correlation in the brand of automobile chosen by parents and their adult children, using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. This correlation could represent transmission of brand preferences across generations, or it could result from correlation in family characteristics that determine brand choice. We present a variety of empirical specifications that lend support to the former interpretation and to a mechanism that relies at least in part on state dependence. We then discuss implications of intergenerational brand preference transmission for automakers’ product-line strategies and for the strategic pricing of vehicles to different age groups.
• Langer, A., & Miller, N. H. (2013). AUTOMAKERS' SHORT-RUN RESPONSES TO CHANGING GASOLINE PRICES. REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, 95(4), 1198-1211.
• Miller, N. H., & Langer, A. (2013). Automakers' Short-Run Responses to Changing Gasoline Prices*. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 95(4), 1198-1211. doi:10.1162/rest_a_00297
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  Abstract We provide empirical evidence that automobile manufacturers use cash incentives to offset how gasoline price fluctuations affect the expected fuel expenses of automobile buyers. Regressions based on a database of incentives over 2003 to 2006 suggest that on average, manufacturers offset 40% of the change in relative fuel costs between vehicles due to gasoline price fluctuations. The results highlight that carbon taxes and emissions trading programs likely would generate substantial substitution within vehicle classes, and studies that ignore manufacturer discounting likely underestimate consumer demand for fuel economy. The results also have implications for the optimal design of feebate programs.
• Langer, A. A., & Winston, C. (2008). Toward a Comprehensive Assessment of Road Pricing Accounting for Land Use. Brookings Papers on Urban Activity.
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  Congestion on U.S. highways is a well-known social and economic prob lem that becomes progressively worse every year.1 Travel delays impose large costs, currently approaching some $40 billion annually, on motorists, truckers, and shippers.2 Economists have repeatedly attributed the problem to policy makers' failure to implement marginal cost congestion tolls to charge road users efficiently for their contribution to delays. By undercharging vehicles for using the nation's roadways, policymakers have also reduced the per-mile cost of commuting (including out-of-pocket and travel time costs) for most motorists and distorted the development of metro politan areas by inducing households to live in more distant, lower-density locations, thereby contributing to urban sprawl. Precise definitions of sprawl and estimates of its costs are elusive, because it is difficult to characterize an optimal pattern of land use.3 At the same time, it is likely that households' deci sions regarding residential location?while maximizing households' utility?have resulted in socially inefficient outcomes because they reduce economies of agglomeration. For instance, according to the U.S. census, between 1970 and 2000 the met ropolitan population in the United States grew approximately 60 percent. We
• Langer, A., Winston, C., & Langer, A. (2006). The effect of government highway spending on road users' congestion costs. Journal of Urban Economics, 60(3), 463-483. doi:10.1016/j.jue.2006.04.003
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  Policymakers attempt to reduce the growth of congestion by spending billions of dollars annually on our road system. We evaluate this policy by estimating the determinants of congestion costs for motorists, trucking operations, and shipping firms. We find that, on average, one dollar of highway spending in a given year reduces the congestion costs to road users only eleven cents in that year. We also find that even if the allocation of spending were optimized to minimize congestion costs that it still is not a cost-effective way to reduce congestion. We conclude the evidence strengthens the case for road pricing.

Presentations

• Langer, A. A. (2020, Fall). Energy Transitions in Regulated Markets. Seminar. Zurich: ETH/ZEW/CMCC/Grenoble Ecole de Management.
• Langer, A. A. (2020, Fall). What Were the Odds? Estimating the Market's Probability of Uncertain Events. Department Seminar. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
• Langer, A. A. (2020, Fall). What Were the Odds? Estimating the Market's Probability of Uncertain Events. Department Seminar. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.
• Langer, A. A. (2020, January). Presentation of "What Were the Odds: Estimating the Market's Probability of Uncertain Events". Allied Social Science Association Meetings. San Diego, CA: American Economic Association.
• Langer, A. A. (2020, Spring). Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations. University of Arizona QuantLaw Conference. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona School of Law.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, December). Presentation of "Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations". Seminar. La Jolla, CA: University of California, San Diego.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, June). Presentation of "What Were the Odds: Estimating the Market's Probability of Uncertain Events". Energy Institute at Haas Summer Camp. Berkeley, CA: Energy Institute at Haas, University of California Berkeley.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, June). Presentation of "What Were the Odds: Measuring the Market's Probability of Uncertain Events". Industrial Organization Conference. Montreal, Canada: HEC Montreal.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, May). Presentation of "Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations". Presentation at the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago. Chicago, IL: Energy Policy Institute of Chicago, University of Chicago.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, May). Presentation of "What Were the Odds: Estimating the Market's Probability of Uncertain Events". Yale Economics/School of Management Industrial Organization Seminar. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, November). Presentation of "Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations". Seminar. Calgary, AB, Canada: University of Calgary.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, October). Discussion of two papers. Brookings-Jinan Conference. Guangzhou, China: Institute for Economic and Social Research, Jinan University.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, October). Presentation of "Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations". Seminar at National University of Singapore. Singapore: National University of Singapore.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, October). Presentation of "Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations". Seminar. Guangzhou, China: Institute for Economic and Social Research, Jinan University.
• Langer, A. A. (2019, October). Presentation of "What Were the Odds: Estimating the Market Probability of Uncertain Events". Triangle Research in Environmental Economics Seminar. Durham, NC: Duke, North Carolina State, University of North Carolina, Triangle Research Institute.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, April). Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations. Seminar at University of Nevada, Reno. Reno, NV: UNR.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, April). Fueling Alternatives: Evidence from Real-World Driving Data. Future of Energy in Transportation. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research and U.S. Department of Energy.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, December). Designing Dynamic Subsidies to Spur Adoption of New Technologies. Seminar. New Haven, CT: Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, July). Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations. National Bureau of Economic Research Summer Institute in Industrial Organization. Cambridge, MA: NBER.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, March). Discussion of "To Drive or Not to Drive? A Field Experiment in Road Pricing". Environmental and Energy Economics Winter meeting. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, November). Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations. Occasional Workshop in Environmental Economics. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California, Santa Barbara.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, October). Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations. Invited Seminar. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Business School and Economics Department (both).
• Langer, A. A. (2018, September). Step On It: A New Approach to Improving Vehicle Fuel Economy. Environmental Tax Workshop. College Park, MD: University of Maryland.
• Langer, A. A. (2018, Summer). Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations. Cowles Foundation Conference in Applied Microeconomics. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
• Langer, A. A., & Lemoine, D. M. (2018, July). Designing Dynamic Subsidies to Spur Adoption of New Technologies. Summer Institute in Environmental and Energy Economics. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Langer, A. A. (2017, 3). Discussion of "Household Diversification: The Vehicle Portfolio Effect". Energy and Environmental Economics Program Meeting. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Langer, A. A. (2016, 10). Discussion of "Issues in Compliance with Transportation Policy". Conference on Transportation, Economics, Energy and the Environment. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
• Langer, A. A. (2016, 4). Discussion of "Dynamic Competition and Arbitrage in Electricity Markets: The Role of Financial Traders". International Industrial Organization Conference. Philadelphia, PA: Industrial Organization Society.
• Langer, A. A. (2016, 4). Discussion of "Subsidies and Myopia in Technology Adoption: Evidence from Solar Photovoltaic Systems". International Industrial Organization Conference. Philadelphia, PA: Industrial Organization Society.
• Langer, A. A., & Lemoine, D. M. (2016, 3). Presentation of "Dynamic Technology Subsidies". POWER Conference. Berkeley, CA: Energy Institute at Haas.
• Langer, A. A., & Lemoine, D. M. (2016, 4). Presentation of "Dynamic Technology Subsidies". International Industrial Organization Conference. Philadelphia, PA: Industrial Organization Society.
• Langer, A. A., & Lemoine, D. M. (2016, 6). Presentation of "Dynamic Technology Subsidies". Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Annual Conference. Breckenridge, CO: Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
• Langer, A. A., & Lemoine, D. M. (2016, 6). Presentation of "Economic Consequences of Environmental Policy Uncertainty". Energy Camp. Berkeley, CA: Energy Institute at Haas.
• Langer, A. A., Maheshri, V., & Winston, C. (2016, 11). From Gallons to Miles: A Disaggregate Analysis of Automobile Travel and Externality Taxes. Heartland Environmental Economics Workshop. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois.