Public Utility Research Center Prize
The annual award, sponsored by the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Center, is for the best paper in regulatory economics accepted for presentation at the International Industrial Organization Conference.
2026 Recipient
Ran Zhou, University of Michigan and Audrey Tiew, New York University
“Industrial Policy, Location Choice, and Firm Performance in High-Tech Manufacturing”
This paper builds a structural model of the global contract semiconductor industry and estimates its key parameters using data on facility-level capacity investments and global manufacturing orders. The authors use the model to study a major manufacturer's choice of where to locate a fabrication plant, quantifying how subsidies, export controls, and tariffs differentially influence that decision. The analysis finds that while subsidies can offset the higher construction costs of a U.S. facility, they cannot compensate for the long-run cost disadvantages that result from operating in the U.S. Tariffs can make it profitable to locate in the U.S., but at significant cost to American buyers, who would lose the option of purchasing from previously low-cost foreign manufacturers.
Past Recipients
2025
Pello Aspuru (NYU School of Law), for “Delaying the Coal Twilight: Local Mines, Regulators, and the Energy Transition”
2024
Lauri Kytomaa (Cornell University), for "The Roles of Borrower Private Information and Mortgage Relief Design in Foreclosure Prevention"
2023
Phoebe Tian (Bank of Canada) and Chen Zheng (Brattle Group), for “Unintended Consequences of Policy Interventions: Evidence from Home Affordable Refinance Program”
2022
Matthew Leisten (Federal Trade Commission) and Nicholas Vreugdenhil (Arizona State University), for “Dynamic Regulation with Firm Linkages: Evidence from Texas”
2021
By R. Andrew Butters (Indiana University), Jackson Dorsey (Indiana University), and Gautam Gowrisankaran (University of Arizona), for “Soaking Up the Sun: Battery Investment, Renewable Energy, and Market Equilibrium”
2020
Jason Allen (Bank of Canada), Robert Clark (Queen’s University), Brent Hickman (Washington University in St. Louis) and Eric Richert (Queen’s University), for “Resolving Failed Banks: Uncertainty, Multiple Bidding, and Market Design”
2019
Gaston Illanes (Northwestern University) and Sarah Moshary (University of Chicago), for “Deregulation through Direct Democracy: Lessons from Liquor Markets”
2018
Matthew Grennan, (University of Pennsylvania) and Robert Town (University of Texas – Austin), for “Regulating Innovation with Uncertain Quality: Information, Risk and Access in Medical Devices”
2017
Lorenzo Magnolfi (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Camilla Roncoroni (University of Warwick), for “Political Connections and Market Structure”
2016
Javier Donna (Ohio State University) and Jose-Antonio Espin-Sanchez (Yale University), for “The Illiquidity of Water Markets: Efficient Institutions for Water Allocation in Southeastern Spain”
2015
Shaun McRae (University of Michigan), for “Vertical Integration and Price Differentials in the U.S. Crude Oil Market”
2014
Shanjun Li (Cornell University), for “Better Lucky than Rich? Welfare Analysis of Automobile License Allocations in Beijing and Shanghai”
2013
Marit Hinnosaar (Northwestern University), for “Time Inconsistency and Alcohol Sales Restrictions”
2012
Cristian Huse (Stockholm School of Economics), for “Fast and Furious (and Dirty): The Effects of Environmental Policy on the Swedish Car Market”
2011
Joseph Cullen (Harvard University), for “Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind Generated Electricity”
Catherine Tucker (MIT), James D. Campbell (University of Toronto), and Avi Goldfarb (University of Toronto), for “Privacy Regulation and Market Structure”
2010
Maria Kopsakangas-Savolainen (University of Oulu) and Rauli Svento (University of Oulu), for “Comparing Welfare Effects of Different Regulation Schemes: An Application to the Electricity Distribution Industry”
2009
The first annual Public Utility Research Center Prize was awarded to Byung-Cheol Kim (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jay Pil Choi (Michigan State University), for “Net Neutrality and Investment Incentives”