Robert Metcalfe

@rmetcalfe.bsky.social

16K followers 570 following 220 posts

Economist, Prof at Columbia University.

Chief Economist: Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group).

Co-editor: Journal of Public Economics.

1st gen, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

https://www.rmetcalfe.net/

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Robert "Bob" Melancton Metcalfe is an American engineer and entrepreneur who contributed to the development of the internet in the 1970s. He co-invented Ethernet, co-founded 3Com, and formulated Metcalfe's law, which describes the effect of a telecommunications network. Metcalfe has also made several predictions which failed to come to pass, including forecasting the demise of the internet during the 1990s. .. more

Economics 32%

Engineering 17%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social · 3d

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).

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social · 3d

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).

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social · 3d

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.

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.

Reposted by Dani Rodrik, Chris Hanretty

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 3d

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

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Hannah Farkas @hannah-farkas.bsky.social · 3d

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-...

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 9d

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...

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 9d

Today on Volts: for years, I've wanted to do a podcast on indoor air quality, and I finally found the perfect guest! Dr. Lagoudas & I discuss indoor air pollutants, the policies and technologies that can control them, and the growing need to frame indoor air quality as a basic human right.

What's the deal with indoor air quality?

From CO2 monitors to better building codes, Dr. Georgia Lagoudas outlines how to clean up the spaces where we spend 90% of our lives.

www.volts.wtf

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe, Kevin Miller

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 9d

What's the deal with indoor air quality?

From CO2 monitors to better building codes, Dr. Georgia Lagoudas outlines how to clean up the spaces where we spend 90% of our lives.

www.volts.wtf

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 11d

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!

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 11d

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.

Reposted by Georg Weizsäcker

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 11d

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...

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Robert Metcalfe, Joshua Goodman , and 2 more Richard S.J. Tol, Robert Metcalfe, Joshua Goodman, Aaron Sojourner, Roddy Theobald

Hannah Farkas @hannah-farkas.bsky.social · 14d

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.

🧵👇

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe, Aaron Sojourner

Hayeon Jeong @hjeong88.bsky.social · 16d

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

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Christian Odendahl @codendahl.bsky.social · 22d

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.)

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 22d

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

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 22d

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

Reposted by Christian Odendahl

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 22d

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

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 22d

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...

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Adrián Santonja @adriansantonja.bsky.social · 28d

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.

Reposted by Paul Lehmann, Robert Metcalfe

Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · Oct 3

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."

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.

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Robert Metcalfe, Stuart Shapiro

John Collins @logicallyjc.bsky.social · Sep 23

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Sep 23

Trump's UN speech was his most embarrassing showing since the "DON'T TAKE TYLENOL" one

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · Sep 17

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

Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · Sep 17

🚗 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...

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

The Review of Economic Studies (REStud) @reveconstudies.bsky.social · Sep 17

"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

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham

Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · Sep 17

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Journal of Public Economics @jpube.bsky.social · Sep 9

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"Frictions in recovering unclaimed property: Evidence from a large-scale natural field experiment"

By Alejandro Zentner & Justin Holz

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#econsky #publiceconomics

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · Sep 1

⚡ Britain's high electricity costs aren't a net zero problem — they're a legacy of outdated markets designed for fossil fuels

🖊️ CNZ’s Chief Economist @rmetcalfe.bsky.social wrote to @economist.com about the root causes of high UK energy prices

👇 Check out this week’s print edition or see link in 🧵

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · Aug 26

This doesn't even make sense for like 30 reasons, there's no reason to put already-existing public data on the blockchain when it already exists and is publicly accessible, it's pretty blatantly just gonna be an attempt to pump some coin

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Robert Metcalfe, Clark Gray

Journal of Public Economics @jpube.bsky.social · Aug 25

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"Climate and migration in the United States"

By @patrickbaylis.bsky.social, Prashant Bharadwaj, Jamie T. Mullins, & Nick Obradovich

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#econsky #publiceconomics

Reposted by Robert Metcalfe, Valerie Mueller

Journal of Public Economics @jpube.bsky.social · Aug 20

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"Women leaders improve environmental outcomes: Evidence from crop fires in India"

By Maulik Jagnani & Meera Mahadevan

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#econsky #publiceconomics

Reposted by Caroline Krafft, Jesse Rothstein, Robert Metcalfe , and 10 more Caroline Krafft, Jesse Rothstein, Robert Metcalfe, Joshua Goodman, Valerie Mueller, Miles Corak, Kathleen J. Mullen, Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Dominique Meurs, Scott A. Imberman, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Martin Kreidl, Simon Wiederhold

Sandy Black @econsandy.bsky.social · Aug 19

Society of Labor Economists (SoLE) Annual Conference will be May 1-2, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. Submission portal is now open! Deadline for submissions is October 31--don't forget to submit! It will be a great conference! (organized by me and @jrothst.bsky.social)

mailchi.mp/sole-jole/so...

SOLE 2026 Submissions Open

mailchi.mp