Energy Abundance and Industry Location in Chinese Provinces

How important are energy endowments as driving factors of manufacturing activity in Chinese provinces? This is the topic of a recent paper by Nicole A. Mathys and Jean-Marie Grether. They have determined that larger energy endowments are significantly correlated with larger production of energy-intensive sectors. Disaggregating across energy carriers shows that coal exhibits the strongest impact.

While visiting CESifo the first week in February, Nicole Mathys will be working with Jean-Marie Grether on identifying environmental policy determinants in a spatial context. Past collaborations of these two researchers has led to three widely-read VOX articles: Are Polluters Racing to the Bottom?; Trade, Pollution and the Environment: New Evidence; and The Global Distribution of Carbon Emissions.

Nicole A. Mathys is an economist at the Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development and lecturer and researcher at the University of Neuchâtel. From 2008–13 she worked at the Swiss Federal Office of Energy where she was responsible for the socio-economic research programme and contributed to the preparation of the “New Energy Strategy 2050”. She was awarded a PhD in Economics from the University of Lausanne; her thesis was entitled "Five Essays in Trade and the Environment and Economic Geography."