Nicholas Muller
Lester and Judith Lave Professor in Economics, Engineering, and Public Policy, Engineering and Public Policy, Tepper School of Business
Nicholas Muller is the Lester and Judith Lave Professor of Economics, Engineering, and Public Policy and works at the intersection of environmental policy and economics. His interdisciplinary research projects focus on estimating individual discount rates and risk preferences using historical pricing data, comparing air pollution and climate damages from electric vehicles to conventional vehicles, estimating air pollution damage from energy production, measuring the impact of transporting freight in the United State on air pollution and climate, and analyzing the inequality in market and augmented measures of income. He teaches microeconomics and environmental and natural resource economics and has published papers in the American Economic Review, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
Valuation of Damage from Air Pollution and Green House Gases
Education
2007 Ph.D., Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Yale University
2002 MPA, Environmental Policy & Public Financial Administration, Indiana University
1996 BS, Public Policy, Planning, and Management, University of Oregon
Affiliations
Media mentions
Engineering and Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon professor launches ESG index
Nicholas Muller created the ESG Index to serve as a credible, reliable source for accurate data on national trends in monetary pollution damage.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Muller quoted on the economic and health effects of air quality standard changes
EPP’s Nick Muller spoke with The Pittsburgh Post Gazette about the effects of the EPA changing the standards for acceptable air pollution levels.
Engineering and Public Policy
Muller awarded BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania grant
BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania has awarded the Tepper School a grant to support students investigating the intersection of sustainability and business, and these students will be mentored by Nick Muller.
Muller wins BNY Mellon Foundation grant for Tepper sustainability students
EPP’s Nicholas Muller was awarded a BNY Mellon Foundation grant that will allow students to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability and business.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Muller speaks on corporate climate requirements
EPP’s Nick Muller comments on climate requirements for companies.
The Hill
Muller quoted on pollution and racial gaps
EPP’s Nick Muller was quoted by The Hill on how pollution disproportionately affects certain racial and ethnic groups, especially older Black and Hispanic individuals.
Engineering and Public Policy
Air quality–related health damages of food
A new research paper from Nina Domingo and collaborators at University of Minnesota, with collaboration from EPP co-authors Peter Adams, Nick Muller, Spyros Pandis, Allen Robinson, Peter Tschofen and others, that was recently featured in The Washington Post, shows how food production negatively impacts human health by increasing atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and identifies ways to reduce these negative impacts of agriculture.
CNBC
Muller quoted on air quality
EPP’s Nicolas Muller was quoted by CNBC on measuring unhealthy air quality in the United States.
Engineering and Public Policy
New publication from Adams, Muller, Robinson, and Sergi
In their recently published paper, Optimizing Emissions Reductions from the U.S. Power Sector for Climate and Health Benefits, EPP alum Brian Sergi, along with EPP professors Peter Adams, Nick Muller, Allen Robinson, and former EPP professor Inês Azevedo, find that climate policy that incorporates health objectives can result in substantial additional benefits by prioritizing emissions reductions in places where health damages are greatest.
Engineering and Public Policy
Mohan and Muller blog post, "Monetary damages – a better measure of sustainability than emissions?"
In a recently published blog post in PRI, EPP PhD student Aniruddh Mohan and EPP Professor Nicholas Muller use their paper, The Growth of Nations Revisited: Global Environmental Accounting from 1998 to 2018, to argue that what matters to societal welfare is not the physical tonnage of emissions, but the monetary damage caused by them.
Engineering and Public Policy
EPP faculty and alums research flows of particulate matter damage in the U.S.
In a new study, EPP Ph.D. alums Brian Sergi (’19) and Inês Azevedo (’09), along with EPP Professor Nick Muller and Steve Davis find that emissions flows across U.S. county lines plays an important role in health damages from air pollution.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Muller on health effects of reduced air pollution from COVID-19
EPP’s Nick Muller was interviewed by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about a new study he co-authored about the impact of social distancing and stay-at-home months during the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution. The study found that with reduced exposure to fossil fuel emissions from vehicles and power plants, premature mortality from air pollution was likely down 25 percent.