Blake Shaffer

Assistant Professor

Biography

Blake Shaffer is an assistant professor in the department of economics and school of public policy at the University of Calgary. His work focusses on electricity markets, climate policy and energy transitions. He uses empirical methods to evaluate policy effectiveness and better understand consumer and firm behaviour.

Prior to returning to academia, Shaffer had a 15 year career in energy trading, specializing in electricity, natural gas and emissions markets. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Calgary, Master of Philosophy in economics from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from Queen’s University. He has recently held visiting scholar and Fulbright postdoctoral scholar positions at the Toulouse School of Economics and Stanford University.

His recent research has been published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Canadian Journal of Economics and the Energy Journal. His popular writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, Postmedia, CBC, and other media outlets. Shaffer has also served as policy advisor for the governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Canada on various energy and environmental policy matters.

Interests

Electricity markets
Climate policy
Energy transitions

Education

PhD in Economics, 2018

University of Calgary
MPhil in Economics, 2003

Cambridge University
BSc (Honours) in Environmental Sciences, 2000

Queen's University

Featured Publications

Blake Shaffer

August 2020 American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

Misunderstanding Nonlinear Prices: Evidence from a Natural Experiment on Residential Electricity Demand

This paper examines how consumers respond to nonlinear prices. Exploiting a natural experiment with electricity consumers in British Columbia, I find evidence that some households severely misunderstand nonlinear prices| incorrectly perceiving that the marginal price applies to all consumption, not simply the last unit. While small in number, the exaggerated responses by these households have a large effect in aggregate, masking an otherwise predominant response to average price. Previously largely unexplored in the literature, this type of misunderstanding has important economic, policy and methodological implications beyond electricity markets. I estimate the welfare loss for these households to be the equivalent of 10% of annual electricity expenditure.

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Journal Articles

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Blake Shaffer, Nic Rivers (2020). Stretching the Duck: How rising temperatures will change the level and shape of future electricity consumption. Energy Journal.

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Blake Shaffer, Mokhtar Tabari (2020). Paying for performance: The role of policy in energy storage deployment. Energy Economics.

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Blake Shaffer (2020). Misunderstanding Nonlinear Prices: Evidence from a Natural Experiment on Residential Electricity Demand. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

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Blake Shaffer, Andrew Leach, Nic Rivers (2020). Canadian electricity markets during the COVID-19 pandemic: An initial assessment. Canadian Public Policy.

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Blake Shaffer (2019). Location matters: Daylight saving time and electricity demand. Canadian Journal of Economics.

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Blake Shaffer, Georgina Santos (2004). Preliminary Results of the London Congestion Charging Scheme. Public Works, Management and Policy.

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Peer-reviewed Policy Papers

Blake Shaffer, Grant Bishop, Mariam Ragam (2020). The Price of Power: Comparative Electricity Costs across Provinces. C.D. Howe Institute Research Paper.

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Blake Shaffer (2019). The Role of Storage in Alberta’s Electricity Market: Summary of a School of Public Policy Roundtable Event. School of Public Policy Summary Paper.

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Blake Shaffer, Ben Dachis, Vincent Thivierge (2017). All’s Well that Ends Well: Addressing End-of-Life Liabilities for Oil and Gas Wells. C.D. Howe Institute Research Paper.

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Blake Shaffer, Kent Fellows, Michal Moore (2016). The Challenge of Integrating Renewable Generation in the Alberta Electricity Market. School of Public Policy Summary Paper.

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Blake Shaffer, David Houle, Mark Purdon (2016). The Political Economy of Free Allocations in Revenue Recycling: Six Position Papers on the Options for Recycling Carbon Pricing Revenue. Ecofiscal Commission.

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Blake Shaffer (2016). Lifting the hood on Alberta’s royalty review. School of Public Policy Briefing Paper.

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Policy Blogs

The Climate Policy Certainty Gap and How to Fill It, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Jun 4, 2021 (with Dale Beugin)
Valuing Alberta’s Renewable Electricity Program, School of Public Policy, Energy & Environmental Policy Trends, Mar 18, 2021 (with Sara Hastings-Simon)
Three Fixes for Canadian Energy Policy to Avoid Texas’ Energy Troubles, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Feb 19, 2021 (with Joshua Rhodes)
Cheap renewables have arrived, School of Public Policy, Energy & Environmental Policy Trends, Nov 22, 2020 (with Nick Schumacher, Victoria Goodday and Jen Winter)
Other Options for Time-of-Use Electricity Pricing in Ontario, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Nov 3, 2020 (with Grant Bishop and Mariam Ragab)
As Electricity Demand Sinks, Ontario Power Costs Rise 24 Percent With More to Come, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Apr 21, 2020 (with Grant Bishop)
Power demand in the time of COVID-19, School of Public Policy, Energy & Environmental Policy Trends, Apr 16, 2020 (with Andrew Leach and Nic Rivers)
Using forward contracts to deliver reliable and affordable power, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Oct 18, 2019
Will electric vehicle subsidies spur widespread adoption?, School of Public Policy, Energy & Environmental Policy Trends, May 23, 2019
You get what you pay for: Considering cost and value in renewables procurement, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Dec 18, 2018
To Change or not to Change? The Daylight Savings Debate Won’t Die, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Mar 6, 2018
Alberta’s Renewable Auction Sets a New Low for Prices, but Tweaks Are Needed in the Future, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Dec 14, 2017
What’s the Real Deal with Keystone XL?, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Nov 21, 2017
Smooth transitions: Shifting from cap-and-trade to a carbon tax, Ecofiscal Commission blog, Nov 15, 2017 (with Dale Beugin and Trevor Tombe)
On Site C: Dam(ned) if You Do, Dam(ned) if You Don’t, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Nov 3, 2017
An Ontario surprise: a good idea about electricity pricing, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Sep 10, 2017
Does Daylight Saving Time Reduce Energy Consumption? (Part 1), C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Mar 7, 2017 (with Nic Rivers)
Does Daylight Saving Time Reduce Energy Consumption? (Part 2), C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Mar 8, 2017 (with Nic Rivers)
Reconciling Pipelines with Canada’s Climate Goals, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Dec 8, 2016 (with Trevor Tombe)
What Does a Capacity Market Mean for Alberta?, C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo, Nov 24, 2016

Popular media

If you got an AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, you made the right decision, according to economics, Globe and Mail, May 12, 2021 (with Stephen Gordon, Andrew Leach, Christine Neill, Tammy Schirle and Trevor Tombe)
Comment le Canada peut fournir une énergie propre et fiable grâce aux macroréseaux électriques, The Conversation Canada, March 4, 2021 (with Brett Dolter, Kent Fellows and Nic Rivers)
Why Canada should invest in ‘macrogrids’ for greener more reliable electricity, The Conversation Canada, Feb 24, 2021 (with Brett Dolter, Kent Fellows and Nic Rivers)
Lessons for Alberta from the Texas power blackout, CBC, Feb 24, 2021 (with Joshua Rhodes)
Bridging the electricity gap between Alberta and B.C. makes perfect climate sense, CBC, Dec 22, 2020 (with Mark Jaccard)
Alberta’s shift away from coal power is a climate action success story, CBC, Oct 15, 2020 (with Andrew Leach)
On the wrong track: Alberta loses $2.1B on crude-by-rail contracts, CBC, Sep 1, 2020
Alberta’s government is using coronavirus as a shield for laying off education workers, Globe and Mail, Apr 5, 2020 (with Trevor Tombe)
Beyond pipelines: The nation-building project that could electrify Canada, Globe and Mail, Mar 17, 2020 (with Sara Hastings-Simon)
Alberta’s carbon-pricing policy is imperfect – but in one significant way, it’s actually better than Ottawa’s, Globe and Mail, Oct 29, 2019
Les Canadiens ont les voitures les plus grosses et les plus énergivores au monde, The Conversation Canada, May 13, 2019
When it comes to vehicles, Canada tops the charts for poor fuel economy, The Conversation Canada, May 9, 2019
Redwater decision is progress, but environmental liabilities run deep, Globe and Mail, Feb 4, 2019 (with Simon Dyer and Chris Ragan)
Canada’s new large-emitter pricing system might defeat the carbon tax’s own purpose, Maclean’s, Nov 5, 2018
Will LNG Canada increase greenhouse gas emissions?, Maclean’s, Oct 3, 2018
On Policy Durability, The Hill Times, Aug 13, 2018 (ungated)
Why John Horgan deserves credit for going ahead with Site C, Maclean’s, Dec 11, 2017
Why the B.C. Liberals and NDP are both wrong about bridge tolls, Maclean’s, Apr 10, 2017
Saskatchewan swallows the fiscal pill Alberta refuses, Maclean’s, Mar 23, 2017 (with Trevor Tombe)
Paying for pipelines: How consumers can end up footing some of the bill, CBC, Feb 9, 2017
Making sense of Alberta’s new energy efficiency program, Maclean’s, Jan 31, 2017 (with Sara Hastings-Simon and Trevor Tombe)
Alberta Electricity: There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear, Calgary Herald, Nov 28, 2016
Carbon tax: The real debate is about how the revenue is used, Globe and Mail, Oct 15, 2016
Making sense of a $15 minimum wage in Alberta, Maclean’s, Jun 30, 2016 (with Trevor Tombe)
Alberta’s climate plan requires serious debate, Globe and Mail, May 27, 2016
Making sense of provincial debt downgrades, Maclean’s, Dec 22, 2015 (with Trevor Tombe)

Blake Shaffer

Assistant Professor

Department of Economics

School of Public Policy

University of Calgary

Biography

Interests

Education

Featured Publications

Misunderstanding Nonlinear Prices: Evidence from a Natural Experiment on Residential Electricity Demand

Journal Articles

Peer-reviewed Policy Papers

Policy Blogs

Popular media

Recent Posts

Canada’s aging population

Trucks! Trucks! Trucks!

Making animated charts with gganimate

New Statscan data on victims of violent crime in Canada

Gasoline demand: BC and the Rest of Canada

Experience

Assistant Professor

University of Calgary

Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar

Stanford University

Visiting Scholar

Toulouse School of Economics

Policy Advisor (occasional)

Governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Canada

Director of Western Trading and Senior Trader

Transalta

Senior Power Trader

Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers

Manager of Analytics and Power Trader

Powerex Corporation (BC Hydro)

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