About Me
I am a fourth-year PhD student in Economics at the University of Southern California.
My research explores the dynamics of International Trade, Spatial Economics, and Environmental Economics.
Prior to USC, I studied at SciencesPo Paris and UPF, and gained professional experience at the European Central Bank and the OECD. You can view my CV here.
Feel free to reach out at: pcoster@usc.edu
Research
Working Papers
Firms' Supply Chain Adaptation to Carbon Taxes Submitted | CEPR Discussion Paper 19644 | NY Fed Staff Report 1136
View Abstract
This paper studies how firms adjust input sourcing in response to climate policy. Using the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) as a natural experiment and French product-level import and production data, we show that firms increasingly shifted imports of ETS-regulated inputs to non-EU countries over the 2010s as the policy became more stringent, indicating carbon leakage. This leakage is economically significant: the share of ETS-regulated products sourced from outside the EU rose by 4.3 percentage points after the ETS was implemented. Motivated by these empirical findings, we estimate a heterogeneous firm model using pre-ETS data. Simulating the model under a €100 carbon tax reproduces observed leakage, raises domestic prices and modestly reduces French emissions. Adding a carbon tariff similar to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) reverses the leakage but further increases prices. The combined ETS+CBAM regime is seven times more effective than the ETS alone in reducing emissions.
Work in Progress
Demand for Clean Household Energy: LPG in Rural Ghana
Carbon Policies and Firm-to-Firm Networks
Climate Change Adaptation and Subsidies in Agriculture: Evidence From France
Firm Upgrading and A New Estimation of Product Quality
Teaching
Fall 2025 &
Spring 2026
Spring 2026
Intermediate Macroeconomics
Prof. Robert Dekle (Undergrad)
Spring 2025
Macroeconomic Theory II
Profs. Pablo Kurlat & Andy Neumeyer (PhD)
Spring 2024
Macroeconomic Bootcamp
Prof. Pablo Kurlat (PhD Core)