Yang Gao

Yang Gao

  yang_gao at ucsb dot edu

  2041 North Hall, UCSB

  CV

Welcome! I am a final year Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. My main research interests lie in Macroeconomics, Environmental Economics, and Firm Dynamics.

My research investigates the macroeconomic and welfare implications of climate change and climate policies. I particularly examine how climate policies interact with production-side distortions and frictions, aiming to uncover their true efficiency, distributional and aggregate impacts. My methodological approach combines econometric analysis of micro- and macro-level data with structural macroeconomic modeling.

Education

University of California, Santa Barbara
Ph.D. in Economics, Expected 2026
Committee: Peter Rupert (Chair), Yueyuan Ma, Gregory Casey

Renmin University of China
B.A. in Economics, 2019

University of California, Davis
Exchange Student, Sep 2017 - June 2018

Job Market Paper

Beyond Emissions: The Implications of Capital Misallocation on Optimal Carbon Tax
(Solo Authored)

Abstract: I study optimal carbon taxation when capital is misallocated across firms. Using U.S. public firm data, I document that firm-level returns to capital are negatively correlated with revenue-based emissions intensity, indicating that capital is misallocated toward dirtier firms. Embedding this pattern in a misallocation framework, I demonstrate a novel mechanism: a carbon tax can reduce resource misallocation and boost aggregate productivity by reallocating capital from dirtier to cleaner firms, generating welfare improvements beyond internalizing emissions. I build a dynamic climate-economy model with heterogeneous firms and tangibility-based collateral constraints: dirtier firms tend to have more tangible assets and looser borrowing limits, attracting excess capital. Calibrated to firm balance-sheet and emissions data, the model implies a carbon tax boosts aggregate productivity across a broad range of tax rates. This reallocation benefit raises the optimal carbon tax by 75% relative to a benchmark without pre-existing misallocation. Consistent with the same mechanism, removing financial frictions to equalize returns further lowers economy-wide emissions intensity.

Working Paper

Energy Efficiency Dynamics and Climate Policy
(Joint with Gregory Casey and Peter Kruse-Andersen)
Revise and resubmit at the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Work In Progress

Macroeconomic Evidence on Substitution Between Clean and Dirty Energy
(Joint with Gregory Casey and Peter Kruse-Andersen)

Research Experience

Research Assistant for Prof. Tamma Carleton, Prof. Ishan Nath, Prof. Levi Crews, Feb 2021 - Sep 2022
Research Assistant for Prof. Christopher M. Meissner, Apr 2018 - Jul 2018

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Dissertation Summer Fellowship, UCSB 2024
  • Economics Graduate Research Quarter Fellowship, UCSB 2024
  • Best Second-Year Research Paper Award, UCSB 2022
  • Gretler Foundation Fellowship, UCSB 2022
  • Distinction in Ph.D. Preliminary Qualifying Examination - Macroeconomics, UCSB 2020
  • National Scholarship (Top 0.2% Nationwide - Highest Honor for Chinese Undergraduates), RUC 2018
  • Academic Perfection Recognition (All A+'s in 9 Courses), UCD 2018
  • Chancellor's Exchange Student Scholarship, RUC 2017
  • Academic Scholarship, RUC 2016, 2017

Teaching Assistant Experience

  • ECON 204C. Macroeconomic Theory III (Ph.D. Level), S2021
  • ECON 181. International Finance, W2024
  • ECON 101. Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory (Head TA), W2021, W2022, S2022, W2023, S2023, W2025, S2025, F2025
  • ECON 180. International Trade, F2021, F2022, F2023
  • PSTAT 109. Statistics for Econ, F2020
  • ECON 2. Principles of Economics - Macro, W2020, S2020
  • ECON 10A. Intermediate Microeconomic Theory, F2019