Robert Metcalfe

Hannah's work shows that, when the minimum wage increases, schedule unpredictability goes up too. Perhaps not surprising (but very hard to show)--as the wage goes up, workers pay in other ways. She is on the market and has a number of very cool and important papers!
hannahfarkas.github.io

Super excited to see Hannah's JMP in the Economist this week! She uses detailed data to show how firms pass the risk of weather-driven shift changes on to workers in food & bev / retail, & that minimum wages actual *worsen* that effect!

#econsky #climsky #climate #jmp #jmc #susdev

Figure shows average hours worked per week by industry. It is 25.8 in leisure and hospitality, compared to an average of 34.7 for the whole private sector.

1. Schedule unpredictability means you don't work full time, but can't fill the other hours.

Avg hours worked per year in hospitality is 26, compared to 35-40 in most other industries.

But workers can't fill the spare hours with another job as they don't know when they'll be scheduled to work.

Hannah also finds a tradeoff between schedule unpredictability and wages: when the minimum wage is increased, scheduling unpredictability increases too.

Suggests another margin that firms are able to cut costs on when minimum wages increase.

(parallels with our work on workplace injuries).

2. Firms pass demand risk onto workers: Hannah shows that on bad-weather days (when fewer people come to buy things from these retail & hospitality businesses), there are more last-minute shift cancellations.

In most jobs, the firm bears the risk of demand shocks unless extreme (-> layoffs).

This is a fascinating paper. It's the first (afaik) to actually document food&drink&retail scheduling unpredictability using actual firm data.

It illustrates v clearly why unpredictable scheduling makes these jobs so difficult:

Check out Hannah awesome JMP on job schedule unpredictability and how minimum wage policy affects such unpredictability: hannahfarkas.github.io/files/The_Ec...

Excited to see my JMP cited in the Economist—it highlights the tradeoffs workers could face with a higher minimum wage and suggests more worker protections like Fair Workweek laws could be important alongside minimum wage increases

www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Great podcast on indoor air pollution by @volts.wtf. If you’re interested in a field experiment with using real-time information on changing indoor air pollution, check out our paper: bsky.app/profile/rmet...

Prospective PhD students: do not hesitate to attend this information session from my great former PhD program!

The first year is the Columbia Econ sequence, but the second and third years are a lot more flexible, allowing the freedom to pursue ideas that might not necessarily be in the Econ wheelhouse. Abundant space for creativity!

We admit 5-6 students per year into a tight knit community. The placement in the past has been outstanding, and the alumni of the program is a huge added benefit.

Interested in a PhD program that offers students the opportunity to do interdisciplinary research at the nexus of natural science and economics? Please join us for a SustDev information session December 4 from 10:15-12 ET.

Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Wow, this is a really interesting #EconJMP

Super cool #EconJMP by Hayeon on policy intensity and loopholes.

Check out the paper and her other work at: sites.google.com/view/hayeonj...

I've seen Hannah present and she does great stuff. Check out the thread.

Check out Hannah’s awesome #EconJMP with really cool/unique data that allows for insights into an understudied but important aspect of labor markets.

I’m on the #EconJobMarket! I study labor, extreme weather adaptation, and inequality.

My JMP addresses an under-studied aspect of the labor market: schedule unpredictability among hourly workers in the service sector.

🧵👇

I'm happy to share my #JMP on the relationship between policy intensity and effectiveness!

It challenges the idea that stricter policies are always more effective by showing that policy avoidance rises with stringency during the early period of implementation.
🧵👇
#Econsky #EconJobMarket #EconJMP

Now that is a cool paper, on how labour markets with hourly workers/zero hour contracts push unpredictability and slow business days onto workers.

(She exploits weather and minimum wage variations.)

Second is Hayeon Jeong.
JMP: Does Greater Policy Intensity Improve Policy
effectiveness? Evidence from Seoul, South Korea
Website: sites.google.com/view/hayeonj...
Interests: Environmental Econ, Behavioral Econ

The first is Hannah Farkas.
JMP: "The Economic Incidence of Schedule Unpredictability in Hourly Work"
Website: hannahfarkas.github.io
Interests: Environmental Econ, Labor Econ

Meet our outstanding 2025–26 economics job market candidates from @columbiasipa.bsky.social.

We have two exceptional scholars on this year’s AP market — both bring awesome and policy-relevant research agendas to the market.

www.sipa.columbia.edu/sipa-educati...

Two intense and inspiring months at @columbiasipa.bsky.social have come to an end!

It has been an incredibly enriching experience to immerse myself in this thriving academic community — and the kind, curious, and passionate researchers at SIPA made it easy to enjoy every day of my research stay.

Just a reminder to submit your papers to SoLE!!! It will be a great conference, with not-to-be-missed keynotes by Janet Currie, Kerwin Charles, and Jeff Smith! Avoid FOMO and submit!
🥳

Figure shows electricity consumption throughout the day for a baseline and with an EV tariff. During the off-peak period in the middle of the night, consumption is much higher with the EV tariff, while during the peak in the early evening it is much lower.

This recent working paper by @rmetcalfe.bsky.social e.a. for @centrefornetzero.bsky.social shows how effective automated EV smart charging is:

"42% reduction in household electricity demand during peak hours, with 100% of this demand shifted to low-cost, low-emission off-peak periods."

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Very happy to release this working paper today showing the value of AI in helping shape energy demand.

"New study finds salary benchmarking cuts pay gaps by 25%. Pay dispersion partly arises from firms’ uncertainty about market rates, with key implications for pay transparency policy."

New paper from Perez-Truglia, Li & Cullen

www.restud.com/whats-my-emp...:

#econsky
#REStud

🚗 Can AI make EV charging cheaper and greener?

CNZ ran the world’s largest AI-managed EV charging trial with 13,000 UK households. Check out the results 👇

Summary & working paper 🔗 www.centrefornetzero.org/papers/ai-in...