Prof. Costas Arkolakis, Ph.D.

“Clean Growth”

In this NBER Working Paper, Costas Arkolakis and Conor Walsh provide a spatial theory of clean growth to assess the global impact of the rise of renewable energy. They model the details of the combined production and transmission network of electricity (“the grid”) that determine the supply and losses of energy in space. The local rate of clean energy adoption depends on learning-by-doing, the global electricity and trade network, and regional comparative advantage in renewable resources. Using the model to measure the aggregate and spatial implications of clean growth, they find that the world’s power system is likely to be dominated by renewables by 2040 in a range of scenarios, with substantial welfare gains, even in the absence of policy. Incorporating policy, they find that the US Inflation Reduction Act significantly accelerates renewable uptake, and generates substantial economic benefits. In addition, planned grid improvements lower prices substantially in many areas of the US, justifying their cost of construction.

Mr. Arkolakis’s research and teaching specialize in general equilibrium trade theory, international economics, spatial economics, macroeconomics and industrial organization. He has published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Review of Economic Studies. He is a co-editor of Economic Theory and the Journal of International Economics. He has been awarded four National Science Foundation grants including an NSF CAREER grant, the Bodossaki Foundation Prize in Social Sciences for distinguished young Greek scientists.

Costas Arkolakis is a Professor of Economics at Yale University, a CESifo Research Network Fellow and an NBER Research Associate. He received his undergraduate degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Economics, and his Master and PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota. He joined the department of Economics at Yale University in 2007, became an Associate Professor in 2013, Henry Kohn Associate Professor in 2014, and a Full Professor in 2018.