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Ralf Martin.

Ralf Martin

Growth Programme Director

Expertise: growth' climate change, innovation, industrial policy, energy demand

Telephone:
020 7594 2615
Email:
r.martin@lse.ac.uk
r.martin@imperial.ac.uk
Room:
SAL 2.32 A
Connect:
Twitter
Website
Links:
CEP Growth
POID
Imperial College London

Biography

Dr Ralf Martin is Associate Professor of Economics at Imperial College Business School and the Programme Director of the Growth Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London.

Current areas of research include:

  • Industrial policy and spillovers: which technology areas have the highest social value?
  • Energy consumption: how to deploy and operate virtual power plants to help making clean energy cheaper?
  • Pro social attitudes: how do pro social attitudes drive innovation? What drives pro social attitudes?

Publications

CEP discussion papers
Knowledge spillovers from clean innovation. A tradeoff between growth and climate?

Innovation policy faces a tradeoff between growth and climate objectives when the knowledge spillover externality from clean innovation is low compared to other sectors. To make such a comparison, we use patent data to e... Read more...

Ralf Martin and Dennis Verhoeven

12 July 2023

CEP reports
Seizing sustainable growth opportunities from tidal stream energy in the UK

This is the decade for managing the immense risks of climate change, and delivery on net zero. That means rapidly increasing the share of renewable sources in our energy mix alongside a step-change in energy and resource... Read more...

Pia Andres, Ralf Martin, Esin Serin, Arjun Shah and Anna Valero

22 June 2023

Journal article
Unraveling firms: demand, productivity and markups heterogeneity

We develop a novel framework that simultaneously allows recovering heterogeneity in demand, quantity TFP and markups across firms while leaving the correlation between the three dimensions unrestricted. We accomplish thi... Read more...

Emanuele Forlani, Ralf Martin, Giordano Mion and Mirabelle Muûls

17 April 2023

Chapter
Firms and finance during the green transition

Creating economically and politically legitimate solutions to tackle climate change is one of the most pressing and challenging issues of our time. For emerging and developing economies, the task is made more difficult d... Read more...

Ralph De Haas, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Helena Schweiger

01 November 2022

Blog
Clean technologies for growth and equity

Public investment in developing energy sources that don't cause climate change is a strategy for economic growth that could also contribute to the UK's levelling up agenda, says Ralf Martin. His analysis indicates that s... Read more...

Ralf Martin

24 October 2022

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Clean technologies for growth and equity

Public investment in developing energy sources that don’t cause climate change is a strategy for economic growth that could also contribute to the UK’s levelling up agenda, says Ralf Martin. His analysis indicates that s... Read more...

Ralf Martin

20 October 2022

Blog
The UK must recognise its enduring economic strengths

A decade of stagnant living standards, weak productivity and low investment combined with a coming decade of major change - driven by Covid-19, Brexit and the need for accelerated action on Net Zero - mean that it is cru... Read more...

Josh De Lyon, Ralf Martin, Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Arjun Shah, Krishan Shah, Gregory Thwaites and Anna Valero

25 August 2022

External publications
Growing clean

This report, the 19th report for The Economy 2030 Inquiry, provides a hard-headed assessment of the opportunities presented to UK plc by the move to net zero, and considers how best these can be unlocked. It does this by... Read more...

Brendan Curran, Ralf Martin, Sabrina Muller, Viet Nguyen-Tien, Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Esin Serin, Arjun Shah, Anna Valero and Dennis Verhoeven

23 May 2022

External publications
Enduring strengths

A decade of stagnant living standards, weak productivity and low investment combined with a coming decade of major change - driven by Covid-19, Brexit and Net Zero - mean that it is crucial for the UK to renew its econom... Read more...

Josh De Lyon, Ralf Martin, Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Arjun Shah, Krishan Shah, Gregory Thwaites and Anna Valero

28 April 2022

CEP discussion papers
Managerial and financial barriers during the green transition

Using data on 10,769 firms across 22 emerging markets, we show that both credit constraints and weak green management hold back corporate investment in green technologies embodied in new machinery, equipment and vehicles... Read more...

Ralph De Haas, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Helena Schweiger

07 March 2022

CEP discussion papers
Knowledge spillovers from clean and emerging technologies in the UK

The UK government has committed to increase R&D support for clean technologies in an effort to meet its net-zero target by 2050. The opportunity cost of such programs crucially depends on the value of knowledge spillover... Read more...

Ralf Martin and Dennis Verhoeven

02 March 2022

Journal article
Searching for carbon leaks in multinational companies

Does a unilateral climate change policy cause companies to shift the location of production, thereby creating carbon leakage? In this paper, we analyze the effect of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) o... Read more...

Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Caterina Gennaioli, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Thomas Stoerk

01 March 2022

CEP discussion papers
Efficient industrial policy for innovation: standing on the shoulders of hidden giants

Efficient R&D subsidies target technology fields where innovation generates the most valuable knowledge spillovers. To quantify potential efficiency gains from targeting, we infer field-specific subsidy return rates from... Read more...

Charlotte Guillard, Ralf Martin, Pierre Mohnen, Catherine Thomas and Dennis Verhoeven

04 November 2021

CEP reports
Seizing sustainable growth opportunities from carbon capture, usage and storage in the UK

Seizing opportunities from the CCUS value chain can be part of an economy-wide, net-zero-aligned growth path in the UK. The UK has responded to the climate emergency facing the world with an economy-wide target to reach... Read more...

Pia Andres, Ralf Martin, Penny Mealy, Esin Serin, Arjun Shah and Anna Valero

22 September 2021

Blog
Barriers to net-zero: How firms can make or break the green transition

Many countries are striving for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, requiring massive investments over the next decades. But many companies, especially smaller ones, will not be able or willing to invest in cleaner techno... Read more...

Ralph De Haas, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Helena Schweiger

19 March 2021

Blog
Increasing support for clean innovation: a win-win-win strategy?

Political support for government spending to deal with the economic aftermath of the COVID pandemic has grown. It is now greater than during the 2008 financial crisis, and 'build back better' pledges have multiplied. Ral... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Sam Unsworth, Anna Valero and Dennis Verhoeven

11 February 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses
Innovation for a strong and sustainable recovery

In the recovery from Covid-19, innovation and diffusion will be key to addressing several structural challenges facing the UK economy. These include improving the UK’s longstanding poor productivity performance, addressi... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Sam Unsworth, Anna Valero and Dennis Verhoeven

18 December 2020

CEP discussion papers
Does pricing carbon mitigate climate change? Firm-level evidence from the European Union emissions trading scheme

In theory, market-based regulatory instruments correct market failures at least cost. However, evidence on their efficacy remains scarce. Using administrative data, we estimate that, on average, the EU ETS - the world's ... Read more...

Jonathan Colmer, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Ulrich J. Wagner

17 November 2020

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Climate change policy: the case for a Covid-19 carbon tax

Ralf Martin and John Van Reenen explain how taxing emissions could help to meet the costs of the crisis and encourage investment in clean innovation.... Read more...

Ralf Martin and John Van Reenen

15 July 2020

Blog
Ralf Martin & John van Reenen | The case for a Covid-19 carbon tax

Ralf Martin and John Van Reenen (LSE) explain how a carbon tax could both help pay for the enormous costs of the pandemic and encourage ‘clean’ investment. Crucially, it should be levied in a few years’ time, when the UK... Read more...

Ralf Martin and John Van Reenen

02 June 2020

CEP discussion papers
Environmental preferences and technological choices: is market competition clean or dirty?

We investigate the effects of consumers' environmental concerns and market competition on firms' decisions to innovate in 'clean' technologies. Agents care about their consumption and environmental footprint; firms pursu... Read more...

Philippe Aghion, Roland Bénabou, Ralf Martin and Alexandra Roulet

31 March 2020

CEP reports
Seizing sustainable growth opportunities from zero emission passenger vehicles in the UK

This is a Special report for the LSE Growth Commission, produced with the Centre for Economic Performance, that provides a set of actionable recommendations to the UK government to drive sustainable growth in the context... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Sam Unsworth, Anna Valero and Dennis Verhoeven

13 February 2020

CEP election analysis papers
Energy and climate change

UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are declining and have been declining for some time. As of 2018, the UK emitted 449 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e). That corresponds to a reduction of 43% relative to 1990 lev... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Petra Sarapatkova and Dennis Verhoeven

29 November 2019

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Sustainable growth in the UK

Anna Valero and colleagues urge the UK government to put action on climate change and sustainability at the heart of its growth strategy.... Read more...

Ralf Martin, James Rydge and Anna Valero

01 March 2019

CEP discussion papers
Making smart meters smarter the smart way

We report first results from a large scale randomized control trial of different forms of energy consumption feedback facilitated by smart meters and smart phone feedback apps. Nearly 40,000 customers of a large energy r... Read more...

Quentin Coutellier, Greer Gosnell, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls, Goran Strbac, Mingyang Sun and Simon Tindermans

11 February 2019

CEP discussion papers
Searching for carbon leaks in multinational companies

Does unilateral climate change policy cause companies to shift the location of production, thereby creating carbon leakage? In this paper, we analyse the effect of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on ... Read more...

Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Caterina Gennaioli, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Thomas Stoerk

11 February 2019

Journal article
Some causal effects of an industrial policy

We exploit changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a program to support jobs through investment subsidies. European rules determine whether an area is eligible for subsidies, and we construct instrumental v... Read more...

Chiara Criscuolo, Ralf Martin, Henry G. Overman and John Van Reenen

01 January 2019

CEP industrial strategy
Sustainable growth in the UK: seizing opportunities from technological change and the transition to a low-carbon economy

An overarching strategy for sustainable growth is required to address the dual challenges of restoring productivity growth and managing a transition to a low-carbon economy – priorities in both the UK and other G20 count... Read more...

James Rydge, Ralf Martin and Anna Valero

03 December 2018

CEP election analysis papers
Brexit as Climate Policy: The Agenda on Energy and the Environment

The Great Recession and a sluggish economic recovery were instrumental in meeting the legally binding climate change targets that the UK has set for itself. But without more drastic policy interventions, it is unlikely t... Read more...

Ralf Martin

05 June 2017

Submissions to parliamentary inquiries and government consultations
CEP Response to BEIS Green Paper - Building our Industrial Strategy

Read more...

Richard Davies, Ralf Martin and Anna Valero

01 January 2017

Journal article
Competition and norms: a self-defeating combination?

This paper investigates the effects of information feedback mechanisms on electricity and heating usage at a student hall of residence in London. In a randomised control trial, we formulate different treatments such as f... Read more...

Genevieve Alberts, Zeynep Gurguc, Pantelis Koutroumpis, Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Tamaryn Napp

01 September 2016

CEP discussion papers
Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD design for R&D, patents and spillovers

We present evidence of the positive causal impacts of research and development (R&D) tax incentives on a firm's own innovation and that of its technological neighbors (spillovers). Exploiting a change in the assets-based... Read more...

Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Elias Einiö, Ralf Martin, Kieu-Trang Nguyen and John Van Reenen

11 March 2016

Journal article
Carbon taxes, path dependency, and directed technical change: Evidence from the auto industry

Can directed technical change be used to combat climate change? We construct new firm-level panel data on auto industry innovation distinguishing between “dirty” (internal combustion engine) and “clean” (e.g., electric, ... Read more...

Philippe Aghion, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, David Hemous, Ralf Martin and John Van Reenen

01 February 2016

CEP discussion papers
Unraveling firms: demand, productivity and markups heterogeneity

We develop a novel framework that simultaneously allows recovering heterogeneity in demand, quantity TFP and markups across firms while leaving the correlation between the three dimensions unrestricted. We accomplish thi... Read more...

Emanuele Forlani, Ralf Martin, Giordano Mion and Mirabelle Muûls

19 January 2016

Journal article
The impact of the European Union emissions trading scheme on regulated firms: What is the evidence after ten years?

This article reviews the recent literature on ex post evaluation of the impacts of the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on regulated firms in the industrial and power sectors. We summarize the findings ... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Ulrich J. Wagner

01 January 2016

CEP election analysis papers
#ElectionEconomics: The Research Evidence on Key Issues for Voters in the 2015 UK General Election

Please see the CEP #ElectionEconomics report(Paper 1)and the Executive Summary (Paper 2) that cover all the election 2015 briefings, discussing the research evidence on 15 of the UK's key policy battlegrounds: immigratio... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Brian Bell, Jonathan Colmer, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Swati Dhingra, Christian A. L. Hilber, Stephen Machin, Alan Manning, Ralf Martin, Alistair McGuire, Sandra McNally, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Henry G. Overman, Isabelle Roland, Thomas Sampson, Anna Valero, John Van Reenen, Jonathan Wadsworth, Gill Wyness and Gabriel Zucman

30 April 2015

CEP election analysis papers
Energy and the Environment: a cold climate for climate change policies?

The UK's main political parties have all pledged to combat climate change whatever the result of the general election. Yet according to a new report from the CEP, much of the discussion is largely rhetoric, with limited ... Read more...

Jonathan Colmer, Antoine Dechezleprêtre and Ralf Martin

23 April 2015

Policy analysis papers
The impact of 'clean innovation' on economic growth: evidence from the transport and energy industries'

Policies on climate change that encourage 'clean innovation' while displacing 'dirty innovation' could have a positive impact on short-term economic growth while avoiding the potentially disastrous reduction in GDP that ... Read more...

Ralf Martin

04 November 2014

CEP discussion papers
Knowledge spillovers from clean and dirty technologies

How much should governments subsidize the development of new clean technologies? We use patent citation data to investigate the relative intensity of knowledge spillovers in clean and dirty technologies in two technologi... Read more...

Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Ralf Martin and Myra Mohnen

22 September 2014

Journal article
The impact of a carbon tax on manufacturing: Evidence from microdata

We estimate the impact of a carbon tax on manufacturing plants using panel data from the UK production census. Our identification strategy builds on the comparison of outcomes between plants subject to the full tax and p... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

01 September 2014

Journal article
Industry compensation under relocation risk: a firm-level analysis of the EU emissions trading scheme

When regulated firms are offered compensation to prevent them from relocating, efficiency requires that payments be distributed across firms so as to equalize marginal relocation probabilities, weighted by the damage cau... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

01 August 2014

CEP discussion papers
Carbon taxes, path dependency and directed technical change: evidence from the auto industry

Can directed technical change be used to combat climate change? We construct new firm-level panel data on auto industry innovation distinguishing between “dirty” (internal combustion engine) and “clean” (e.g. electric an... Read more...

Philippe Aghion, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, David Hemous, Ralf Martin and John Van Reenen

30 November 2012

CEP discussion papers
Industry Compensation Under Relocation Risk: A Firm-Level Analysis of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

When industry compensation is offered to prevent relocation of regulated firms, efficiency requires that payments be distributed across firms so as to equalize marginal relocation probabilities, weighted by the damage ca... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

14 June 2012

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
The polluter-doesn't-pay principle

By granting discounts on environmental taxes to heavy polluting firms, the government is missing out on significant tax revenues and achieving considerably less in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That is the central c... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

21 May 2012

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
In brief... Can industrial policy boost jobs?

Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are common worldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. We exploit multiple changes in the area-specific el... Read more...

Chiara Criscuolo, Ralf Martin, Henry G. Overman and John Van Reenen

21 May 2012

SERC Discussion Papers
The Causal Effects of an Industrial Policy

Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are common worldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. We exploit multiple changes in the area-specific el... Read more...

Chiara Criscuolo, Ralf Martin, Henry G. Overman and John Van Reenen

10 January 2012

CEP discussion papers
Some Causal Effects of an Industrial Policy

Business support policies designed to raise employment and productivity are ubiquitous around the world. We exploit changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to support manufacturing jobs thro... Read more...

Chiara Criscuolo, Ralf Martin, Henry G. Overman and John Van Reenen

10 January 2012

CEP occasional papers
Climate change policy and business in Europe. Evidence from interviewing managers

This report presents new evidence relating to the effects of climate policy in Europe, particularly the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The evidence is based on new data from almost 800 phone interviews... Read more...

Barry Anderson, Jorg Leib, Ralf Martin, Martin McGuigan, Mirabelle Muûls, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

22 March 2011

CEP discussion papers
Anatomy of a Paradox: Management Practices, Organisational Structure and Energy Efficiency

This paper presents new evidence on managerial and organizational factors that explain firm level energy efficiency and TFP. We interviewed managers of 190 randomly selected manufacturing plants in the UK and matched the... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

01 December 2010

CEP discussion papers
Productivity Spreads, Market Power Spreads and Trade

Much of recent Trade theory focuses on heterogeneity of firms and the differential impact trade policy might have on firms with different levels of productivity. A common problem is that most firm level dataset do not co... Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 September 2010

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Europe's emissions trading scheme: taxpayers versus sthe industry lobby

The European Commission plans to tighten the greenhouse gas emissions targets in the Emissions Trading System. Ralf Martin and colleagues examine the likely impact on affected businesses, and conclude that industry is ex... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Ulrich J. Wagner

12 July 2010

Policy analysis papers
Still time to reclaim the European Union Emissions Trading System for the European tax payer

The criteria proposed by the EU Commission to identify industries that will receive free emission permits in the third phase of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) are not restrictive enough. Evidence fr... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Ulrich J. Wagner

01 May 2010

CEP election analysis papers
Climate Change: Consensus on the Long-Run Targets - But Will We Get Policies that Deliver?

Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 April 2010

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
In brief... Modern management: good for the environment or just hot air?

Nick Bloom and colleagues examine whether well-managed firms are more or less energy-efficient than badly managed firms... Read more...

Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Ralf Martin and Raffaella Sadun

01 February 2010

CEP discussion papers
Why is the US so Energy Intensive? Evidence from US Multinationals in the UK

At present the USA is - in per capita terms - the top greenhouse gas polluter among the world’s major economies. This is mirrored by the high energy intensity of all sectors of the US economy including manufacturing indu... Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 January 2010

CEP discussion papers
The Impacts of the Climate Change Levy on business: Evidence from Microdata

We estimate the impacts of the Climate Change Levy (CCL) on manufacturing plants using panel data from the UK production census. Our identification strategy builds on the comparison of outcomes between plants subject to ... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Ulrich J. Wagner and Laure B. de Preux

01 March 2009

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
In brief: Saving the economy and the planet

The economic crisis may offer an opportunity to set the world on the right track for addressing climate change, writes Ralf Martin.... Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 March 2009

CEP discussion papers
Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?

We use an innovative methodology to measure management practices in over 300 manufacturing firms in the UK. We then match this management data to production and energy usage information for establishments owned by these ... Read more...

Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Ralf Martin and Raffaella Sadun

01 October 2008

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Technologies to Tackle Global Warming

The Stern Review of the economics of climate change proposes a dramatic increase in public spending on research into carbon-mitigating technologies as well as market-based schemes for trading and taxing pollution. Ralf M... Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 December 2006

CEP discussion papers
Productivity Dispersion, Competition and Productivity Measurement

A startling fact of firm level productivity analysis is the large and persistent differences in both labour productivity and total factor productivity (TFP) between firms in narrowly defined sectoral classes. The competi... Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 May 2005

CEP discussion papers
Multinationals and US Productivity Leadership: Evidence from Great Britain

We study the productivity of US owned plants in the UK. Using a new dataset that identifies foreign and domestic MNEs, we find that UK MNEs are less productive than US affiliates, but as productive as non US foreign affi... Read more...

Chiara Criscuolo and Ralf Martin

01 January 2005

CEP discussion papers
Globalisation, ICT and the Nitty Gritty of Plant Level Datasets

The net entry contribution to aggregate productivity growth has increased dramatically in the UK over 1990s according to calculations based on data from the Annual Respondents Database (ARD). Some recent studies have tri... Read more...

Ralf Martin

01 September 2004

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