Michaël Aklin
Biographic Data
| ID | 1599722 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michaël Aklin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michaël |
| FAMILY NAME | Aklin |
| SIGNATURE | AKLIN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pittsburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3912-082X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 293 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Steering towards circularity
The European automotive industry is a major consumer of materials, contributing significantly to resource depletion and environmental pressures from raw material extraction and processing. With growing demand for mobility and the rising material intensity of electric vehicles, driven largely by batteries and their critical raw materials, transitioning to a circular economy is essential to reduce the sector’s environmental impact. In this paper we…
Labor market risk shapes individuals’ environmental attitudes and policy preferences
In an era of increasing economic precarity and labor market polarization, meaningful efforts to mitigate climate challenges face a fundamental political challenge. We examine how individuals’ long-term labor market risk shapes their environmental attitudes and support for green policies. We argue that long-term labor market risk is expected to reduce environmental concern amongst those affected due to a deprioritization of problems with high leve…
The political logic of just transition policies
A ‘just transition’ calls for compensations to fossil fuel workers whose jobs will be lost because of the clean energy transition. The ethical case for a just transition acknowledges the hardship of vulnerable workers. In contrast, I examine the political case for a just transition. The logic of such a case remains hazy and under-theorized. I draw on the insights of ultimatum games to understand the strategic dimension of the relation between gov…
Is Inequality a Side Effect of Central Bank Independence
Political Economies of Energy Transition
The off-grid catch-22
The great equalizer
Inequality in policy implementation
We examine unequal outcomes in the implementation of India’s national rural electrification program in Uttar Pradesh. We ask two questions: (1) to what extent did Dalits, the lowest group in India’s caste hierarchy, receive less attention when the state electrified rural communities? (2) Was BSP, the state’s Dalit party, able to reduce this inequality? Using data from a hundred thousand villages, we provide robust evidence for unequal outcomes. V…
The Side Effects of Central Bank Independence
Central bank independence (CBI) solves the time inconsistency problem faced by policymakers with respect to monetary policy. However, it does not solve their underlying incentives to manipulate the economy for political gains. Unable to use monetary policy, and often limited in their ability to use fiscal spending, governments can resort to financial deregulation to generate short‐term political benefits. We show qualitatively and quantitatively …
The European Union Emissions Trading System reduced CO 2 emissions despite low prices
International carbon markets are an appealing and increasingly popular tool to regulate carbon emissions. By putting a price on carbon, carbon markets reshape incentives faced by firms and reduce the value of emissions. How effective are carbon markets? Observers have tended to infer their effectiveness from market prices. The general belief is that a carbon market needs a high price in order to reduce emissions. As a result, many observers remai…
Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma
Climate change policy is generally modeled as a global collective action problem structured by free-riding concerns. Drawing on quantitative data, archival work, and elite interviews, we review empirical support for this model and find that the evidence for its claims is weak relative to the theory’s pervasive influence. We find, first, that the strongest collective action claims appear empirically unsubstantiated in many important climate politi…
Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India
Moral Hazard and Financial Crises
Do international lenders of last resort create financial instability by generating moral hazard? The evidence is thin and plagued with measurement error. We use the number of American troops hosted by third countries to measure the strength of American commitment to ensuring the countries' economic health. We test several hypotheses against a dataset covering about sixty-eight countries between 1960 and 2009. Using evidence from fixed-effects and…
Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap
The first comprehensive political science account of energy poverty, arguing that governments can improve energy access for their citizens through appropriate policy design. In today's industrialized world, almost everything we do consumes energy. While industrialized countries enjoy all the amenities of modern energy, more than a billion people in the developing world still lack energy access. Why is energy poverty persistent in some countries a…
Renewables
A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gai…
Domestic Politics of Trade Policy
Domestic politics shape international trade policy, but exactly how and why remains an open question. We explore the cutting‐edge literature that focuses on how agents' interests are formed, whose interests are organized, and how those interests interact with each other via domestic political institutions to generate both trade policy and international cooperation over trade more broadly. In turn, trade policies operate as a feedback loop. Intern…
The political economy of energy access
The Global Spread of Environmental Ministries
Environmental ministries have become increasingly common, but the determinants of their global spread remain only partially understood. We develop a theory of domestic–international interactions in the global adoption of environmental ministries. We argue that domestic factors can sensitize a country to different types of international influence: foreign pressure, external support for capacity building, and learning effects. Empirically, we exami…
Perceptions of scientific dissent undermine public support for environmental policy
Debating clean energy
Understanding environmental policy preferences
Political Competition, Path Dependence, and the Strategy of Sustainable Energy Transitions
Previous research emphasizes the importance of path dependence for sustainable energy transitions, but their strategic nature is frequently overlooked. We examine formally how exogenous shocks, such as changes in international energy prices, interact with positive reinforcement factors, such as the growing strength of the renewables advocacy coalition. We find that political competition modifies the effect of path dependence on policy and outcome…
Political Competition, Path Dependence, and the Strategy of Sustainable Energy Transitions
Previous research emphasizes the importance of path dependence for sustainable energy transitions, but their strategic nature is frequently overlooked. We examine formally how exogenous shocks, such as changes in international energy prices, interact with positive reinforcement factors, such as the growing strength of the renewables advocacy coalition. We find that political competition modifies the effect of path dependence on policy and outcome…
Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma
Climate change policy is generally modeled as a global collective action problem structured by free-riding concerns. Drawing on quantitative data, archival work, and elite interviews, we review empirical support for this model and find that the evidence for its claims is weak relative to the theory’s pervasive influence. We find, first, that the strongest collective action claims appear empirically unsubstantiated in many important climate politi…
Debating clean energy
The Global Spread of Environmental Ministries
Environmental ministries have become increasingly common, but the determinants of their global spread remain only partially understood. We develop a theory of domestic–international interactions in the global adoption of environmental ministries. We argue that domestic factors can sensitize a country to different types of international influence: foreign pressure, external support for capacity building, and learning effects. Empirically, we exami…
Perceptions of scientific dissent undermine public support for environmental policy
The Side Effects of Central Bank Independence
Central bank independence (CBI) solves the time inconsistency problem faced by policymakers with respect to monetary policy. However, it does not solve their underlying incentives to manipulate the economy for political gains. Unable to use monetary policy, and often limited in their ability to use fiscal spending, governments can resort to financial deregulation to generate short‐term political benefits. We show qualitatively and quantitatively …
Understanding environmental policy preferences
Moral Hazard and Financial Crises
Do international lenders of last resort create financial instability by generating moral hazard? The evidence is thin and plagued with measurement error. We use the number of American troops hosted by third countries to measure the strength of American commitment to ensuring the countries' economic health. We test several hypotheses against a dataset covering about sixty-eight countries between 1960 and 2009. Using evidence from fixed-effects and…
Political Economies of Energy Transition
The great equalizer
Inequality in policy implementation
We examine unequal outcomes in the implementation of India’s national rural electrification program in Uttar Pradesh. We ask two questions: (1) to what extent did Dalits, the lowest group in India’s caste hierarchy, receive less attention when the state electrified rural communities? (2) Was BSP, the state’s Dalit party, able to reduce this inequality? Using data from a hundred thousand villages, we provide robust evidence for unequal outcomes. V…
Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India
The off-grid catch-22
The political economy of energy access
Perceptions of scientific dissent undermine public support for environmental policy
Debating clean energy
Understanding environmental policy preferences
Political Competition, Path Dependence, and the Strategy of Sustainable Energy Transitions
Previous research emphasizes the importance of path dependence for sustainable energy transitions, but their strategic nature is frequently overlooked. We examine formally how exogenous shocks, such as changes in international energy prices, interact with positive reinforcement factors, such as the growing strength of the renewables advocacy coalition. We find that political competition modifies the effect of path dependence on policy and outcome…
The Global Spread of Environmental Ministries
Environmental ministries have become increasingly common, but the determinants of their global spread remain only partially understood. We develop a theory of domestic–international interactions in the global adoption of environmental ministries. We argue that domestic factors can sensitize a country to different types of international influence: foreign pressure, external support for capacity building, and learning effects. Empirically, we exami…
Domestic Politics of Trade Policy
Domestic politics shape international trade policy, but exactly how and why remains an open question. We explore the cutting‐edge literature that focuses on how agents' interests are formed, whose interests are organized, and how those interests interact with each other via domestic political institutions to generate both trade policy and international cooperation over trade more broadly. In turn, trade policies operate as a feedback loop. Intern…
The political economy of energy access
Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap
The first comprehensive political science account of energy poverty, arguing that governments can improve energy access for their citizens through appropriate policy design. In today's industrialized world, almost everything we do consumes energy. While industrialized countries enjoy all the amenities of modern energy, more than a billion people in the developing world still lack energy access. Why is energy poverty persistent in some countries a…
Renewables
A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gai…
Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India
Moral Hazard and Financial Crises
Do international lenders of last resort create financial instability by generating moral hazard? The evidence is thin and plagued with measurement error. We use the number of American troops hosted by third countries to measure the strength of American commitment to ensuring the countries' economic health. We test several hypotheses against a dataset covering about sixty-eight countries between 1960 and 2009. Using evidence from fixed-effects and…
The European Union Emissions Trading System reduced CO 2 emissions despite low prices
International carbon markets are an appealing and increasingly popular tool to regulate carbon emissions. By putting a price on carbon, carbon markets reshape incentives faced by firms and reduce the value of emissions. How effective are carbon markets? Observers have tended to infer their effectiveness from market prices. The general belief is that a carbon market needs a high price in order to reduce emissions. As a result, many observers remai…
Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma
Climate change policy is generally modeled as a global collective action problem structured by free-riding concerns. Drawing on quantitative data, archival work, and elite interviews, we review empirical support for this model and find that the evidence for its claims is weak relative to the theory’s pervasive influence. We find, first, that the strongest collective action claims appear empirically unsubstantiated in many important climate politi…
The off-grid catch-22
The great equalizer
Inequality in policy implementation
We examine unequal outcomes in the implementation of India’s national rural electrification program in Uttar Pradesh. We ask two questions: (1) to what extent did Dalits, the lowest group in India’s caste hierarchy, receive less attention when the state electrified rural communities? (2) Was BSP, the state’s Dalit party, able to reduce this inequality? Using data from a hundred thousand villages, we provide robust evidence for unequal outcomes. V…
The Side Effects of Central Bank Independence
Central bank independence (CBI) solves the time inconsistency problem faced by policymakers with respect to monetary policy. However, it does not solve their underlying incentives to manipulate the economy for political gains. Unable to use monetary policy, and often limited in their ability to use fiscal spending, governments can resort to financial deregulation to generate short‐term political benefits. We show qualitatively and quantitatively …
Political Economies of Energy Transition
The political logic of just transition policies
A ‘just transition’ calls for compensations to fossil fuel workers whose jobs will be lost because of the clean energy transition. The ethical case for a just transition acknowledges the hardship of vulnerable workers. In contrast, I examine the political case for a just transition. The logic of such a case remains hazy and under-theorized. I draw on the insights of ultimatum games to understand the strategic dimension of the relation between gov…
Is Inequality a Side Effect of Central Bank Independence
Steering towards circularity
The European automotive industry is a major consumer of materials, contributing significantly to resource depletion and environmental pressures from raw material extraction and processing. With growing demand for mobility and the rising material intensity of electric vehicles, driven largely by batteries and their critical raw materials, transitioning to a circular economy is essential to reduce the sector’s environmental impact. In this paper we…
Labor market risk shapes individuals’ environmental attitudes and policy preferences
In an era of increasing economic precarity and labor market polarization, meaningful efforts to mitigate climate challenges face a fundamental political challenge. We examine how individuals’ long-term labor market risk shapes their environmental attitudes and support for green policies. We argue that long-term labor market risk is expected to reduce environmental concern amongst those affected due to a deprioritization of problems with high leve…
Political science (16 works) · Economics (14 works) · Politics (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Engineering (7 works) · Energy and Environment Impacts (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Climate Change Policy and Economics (4 works)