Jim Bushnell, UC Davis
Can Time Series Methods Save Energy Policy Models from Themselves?

James Bushnell is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Davis, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Prior to joining UC Davis, he spent 15 years as the Research Director of the University of California Energy Institute in Berkeley, and two years as the Cargill Chair in Energy Economics at Iowa State University. Prof. Bushnell received a Ph.D. in Operations Research from U.C. Berkeley in 1993. He has written extensively on the regulation, organization, and competitiveness of energy markets. His research on restructured electricity markets has appeared in leading economics journals such as the American Economic Review and RAND journal of economics.

Prof. Bushnell has been actively involved in energy and environmental policy for over a decade. During 1999 and 2000, he served as a member of the Market Monitoring Committee (MMC) of the California Power Exchange. Since 2002, he has served as a member of the Market Surveillance Committee (MSC) of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Both the MMC and MSC were establish to provide external monitoring and analysis to complement the internal market monitoring functions at the PX and CAISO, respectively. He has also advised the California Air Resources Board in several capacities, including as a member of the Emissions Market Advisory Committee from 2012-2014.

In addition to his public committee positions in California, Dr. Bushnell has also directed prospective and retrospective analyses of several electricity markets, including the Spanish, South Korean, New England, and New Zealand markets, and has advised policy-makers on energy policy in both the US and Internationally.

This seminar is part of the Virtual Seminar on Climate Economics series hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and is open to everyone interested in research on the economics of climate change.

Watch the recording (video, 47:37 minutes, with transcription)