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Jun Rentschler is a Doctoral Researcher at UCL ISR in the field of environmental and development economics. He also works as a Consultant at the World Bank, and is a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and the Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
Prior, Jun was a Research Analyst under the World Bank’s Chief Economist for Sustainable Development, working on topics around climate change economics, and green growth. Before joining the World Bank, he worked as an Economic Adviser at the German Foreign Ministry, where he focused on economic and energy policy. He has worked extensively on energy, environment and development projects – including at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Grameen Microfinance Bank in Bangladesh, and the Partners for Financial Stability Program by USAID. Jun holds an MSc in Economics from UCL, and is expected to obtain his PhD in 2017.
- Research subject
Fossil fuel subsidies are unsustainable in every sense of the word: not only do they obstruct innovation, efficiency gains and economic growth, but they also come at substantial costs to environment and society. For instance, fuel subsidies are estimated to be responsible for up to 13% of global carbon emissions, and often dwarf public spending on health and education. Reforming these subsidies is a central element of climate change mitigation and sustainable development efforts, and features prominently on national and international policy agendas.
Overall, the question of why fossil subsidies need to be removed has been answered clearly by existing research. However, apart from case-specific ‘lessons learnt’, the question of how to reform subsidies still awaits systematic analytical investigation. Indeed, the implementation of fuel subsidy reforms has proven to be challenging in practice. The successes and failures of past subsidy reforms illustrate the economic and political complexities; and highlight the need for a better understanding of the long-run implications of different reform approaches.
To address the question of ‘how?’ Jun’s research develops a general equilibrium model for investigating the long-term effects of different subsidy reform methods. In particular it analyses different mechanisms for redistributing reform revenues and how these affect income distribution and economic efficiency respectively. This analytical research is complemented by empirical country studies. Lastly this research will investigate the need for complementary policies to increase the environmental effectiveness of subsidy reforms, and other price based environmental instruments more generally.
- Publications and other work
Publications
On fossil fuel subsidies & carbon taxes:
Rentschler, J., & M. Bazilian (2017), Principles for the Effective Design of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reforms. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. Vol. 11(1)
Rentschler, J. & M. Kornejew (2016) Energy subsidy reforms and the impact on firms: Transmission channels and response measures. Oxford Energy Comment. Oxford: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies & University of Oxford
Rentschler, J. (2016), Incidence and impact: The regional variation of poverty effects due to fossil fuel subsidy reform. Energy Policy. Vol. 96, p. 491–503.
Rentschler, J., & M. Bazilian (2016), Reforming Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Drivers, Barriers and the State of Progress. Climate Policy. DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2016.1169393
Rentschler, J. (2015), Incidence and Impact – A Disaggregated Poverty Analysis of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform. OIES Working Paper SP36. Oxford: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Avner, P., J. Rentschler, S. Hallegatte, (2014), Carbon price efficiency: lock-in and path dependence in urban forms and transport infrastructure. World Bank Policy Research Paper 6941, Washington DC: The World Bank
On disaster risk management & resilience:
Tanner, T., Surminski, S., Wilkinson, E., Reid, R., Rentschler, J., Rajput, S. (2016), The triple dividend of resilience. In Surminski, S., Tanner, T. (eds.). Realising the 'Triple Dividend of Resilience' A New Business Case for Disaster Risk Management. Cham: Springer
Tanner, T., Surminski, S., Wilkinson, E., Reid, R., Rentschler, J., Rajput, S. (2015), The triple dividend of resilience. Washington DC: The World Bank, London: Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
Tanner, T., & J. Rentschler (2015), Unlocking the triple dividend of resilience – why investing in Disaster Risk Management pays off. Washington DC: The World Bank, London: Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Presented at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, March 2015, Sendai, Japan
Hallegatte, S., & J. Rentschler (2014), Risk Management for Development - Assessing Obstacles and Prioritizing Action. Risk Analysis. Vol. 35(2), p. 193–210,
Rentschler, J. (2013), Why Resilience matters - The Poverty Impacts of Disasters., World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 6699, Washington DC: The World Bank
The World Bank. (2013), World Development Report 2014 - Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development. Washington DC: The World Bank. [As team member]
On natural resources and energy:
Flachenecker, F., J. Rentschler (eds.) (forthcoming). The Economics of Resource Efficiency Investments. Cham: Springer
Rentschler, J., F. Flachenecker, M. Kornejew (Manuscript under review). Assessing GHG emission savings from corporate resource efficiency investments: Theory and practice [draft]
Rentschler, J., R. Bleischwitz, F. Flachenecker (2016). Imperfect Competition and Market Distortions: Classifying the Causes of Insufficient Firm Investments in Resource Efficiency. Journal of International Economics and Economic Policy
Flachenecker, F.; Bleischwitz, R.; Rentschler, J. (2016). Investments in Material Efficiency: the Introduction and Application of a Comprehensive Cost-Benefit Framework. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy
Flachenecker, F., & J. Rentschler (2015), Investments in Resource Efficiency - Costs and Benefits, Investment Barriers, and Intervention Measures. A report commissioned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). London: University College London (UCL)
Rentschler, J. (2013), Oil price volatility, economic growth and the hedging role of renewable energy. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 6603, Washington DC: The World Bank
Rentschler, J. (2013), Oil Price Volatility and Economic growth, World Bank Research Digest, Vol. 8, Washington DC: The World Bank
Conference Papers
Rentschler, J. (2016), The regional variation of poverty effects due to fossil fuel subsidy reform in Nigeria. Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE 2016). Zurich, Switzerland, 21-25 June 2016
Rentschler, J., & Flachenecker, F. (2015), Investments in Resource Efficiency – An analytical assessment framework and review of evidence. 5th International Symposium on Mineral Resources and Mine Development (AIMS), Aachen, Germany, 27-28 May 2015
Rentschler, J., & Flachenecker, F. (2014), Investments in Resource Efficiency – An analytical assessment framework and review of evidence. International Conference on Minerals in the Circular Economy, Espoo, Finland, 26-27 November 2014
Selected work in progress
Rentschler, J., & A. Vogt-Schilb, The Distributional Impacts of Replacing Fossil Fuel Subsidies with Direct Cash Transfers.
Hallegatte, S., G. Heal, M. Fay, D. Treguer, & J. Rentschler. From Growth to Green Growth – An Analytical Framework.
Rentschler, J., & S. Hallegatte, The Correlation between Climate Change Impacts and Economic Growth - Implications for the Discount Rate of Mitigation Projects.
Online
Infrastructure planning today determines what carbon taxes can accomplish tomorrow (2014) with S. Hallegatte, and P. Avner. "Let's talk development" Blog hosted by the World Bank's Chief Economist
Fossil fuel markets and the costs of distorted incentives (2013) University College London, Institute for Sustainable Resources Blog
Oil Price Volatility - its risk on economic growth and development (2013) "Let's talk development" Blog hosted by the World Bank's Chief Economist
Myopia and (dis-)incentives: The Political Economy of Managing Risk (2013) "Let's talk development" Blog hosted by the World Bank's Chief Economist
Poverty and disasters: Why Resilience Matters (2013) "Let's talk development" Blog hosted by the World Bank's Chief Economist