Prof. Robert J.Michaels
email:
rmichaels@fullerton.edu
office: SGMH 3395
phone: (657) 278-2588
Office Hours: View Here
Semester: Spring 2013
Biography
I’m Professor of Economics at CSUF. My Bachelors degree is from the University
of Chicago and my PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. My
research centers on energy markets and public policies toward them. It has
provided many case studies used in my classes, which include managerial
economics (for MBA students and undergraduates) and industrial organization
analysis. Some of these cases also appear in my textbook, Transactions and
Strategies: Economics for Management, recently published by Cengage
Learning. My past positions have included Staff Economist at the Institute for
Defense Analyses and researcher for consulting firms. I am Senior Fellow at the
Texas Public Policy Foundation, Senior advisor to the Institute for Energy
Research and Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute.
My research on electricity and natural gas markets has appeared in peerreviewed
journals, law reviews, and industry publications. I also write “Power
Moves,” a biweekly column on developments in high voltage power and its
transmission, for Energy Metro Desk, probably the nation’s leading magazine for
energy risk managers. Until recently I was Co-Editor of the peer-reviewed journal
Contemporary Economic Policy for the Wesern Economic Association. I
frequently present my research before both academic and industry audiences.
I have also worked as an expert for state regulatory agencies (including the
California Public Utilities Commission and Illinois Commerce Commission),
electric utilities, independent power producers and marketers, consumers and
producers of natural gas, and public interest and environmental organizations.
My work has extended beyond the U.S. To New Zealand and Japan. I have
submitted invited expert testimony and reports to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, and on four occasions to committees of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Selected Publications
CoAuthor (with Andrew N. Kleit, Pennsylvania State University), “If You Buy the Power,
Why Pay for the Powerplant? Reforming Texas Electricity Markets.” Forthcoming,
Regulation 36:2 (Summer 2013).
Co-Author (with Andrew N. Kleit, Pennsylvania State University), Does Competitive
Electricity Require Capacity Markets? The Texas Experience. Texas Public Policy
Foundation, Feb. 2013.
Energy Efficiency and Climate Policy: the Rebound Dilemma. Institute for Energy
Research, Washington, July 2012. This is also source of Wall Street Journal Op-Ed “The
Hidden Flaw of Energy Efficiency,” Aug. 20, 2012.
Co-Author (with William Peacock, Texas Public Policy Foundation), Energy Efficiency: Is
Texas Getting Its Money's Worth ? Texas Public Policy Foundation and Institute for
Energy Research, June 2010.
Transactions and Strategies: Economics for Management. Mason OH: Cengage
Learning, 2010.
The Other Half of Waxman-Markey: An Examination of the Non-Cap-and-Trade
Provisions, Monograph, Institute for Energy Research, Washington, D.C., Oct. 2009.
Co-author (with Robert Murphy, Institute for Energy Research), Green Jobs: Fact or
Fiction, Monograph, Institute for Energy Research, Washington D.C., Jan. 2009.
"The Case Against a Federal Renewable Power Requirement," Electric Light & Power 87
(Jan. 2009), 50-53.
"Renewable Portfolio Standards: Still No Good Reasons," Electricity Journal 21 (Oct.
2008), 18-31.
"Electricity Market Monitoring and the Economics of Regulation," Review of Industrial
Organization 32 (No. 2, 2008), 197-216.
“National Renewable Portfolio Standard: Smart Policy or Misguided Gesture?” Energy
Law Journal 29 (No. 1, 2008), 79-119.
“A National Renewable Portfolio Standard: Politically Correct, Economically Suspect,”
Electricity Journal 21 (April, 2008), 9-28.
Professional Affiliations And Honors
Member, American Economic Association
Member, Western Economic Association
Member, Energy Bar Association (non-attorney)
Daniel P. Haan Distinguished Fellow in Economics and Regulation, California State niversity, Fullerton, 2008-present.
Senior Fellow, Texas Public Policy Foundation, 2007 - Present
Resident Scholar, Center for Advancement of Energy Markets, 1999 - 2004
Co-Editor, Contemporary Economic Policy, peer-reviewed journal of the Western Economic Association, 1999 - present
Senior Fellow, Institute for Energy Research, 1995 - present
Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute, 1995 - present
Outstanding Professor, Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, California State University, Fullerton, 1989
NSF research award to study financial institutions deregulation, 1979
Micellany
Author of bi-weekly column “Power Moves,” appearing in New Power Executive and The Desk
Numerous appearances in popular press, broadcast media, and before non-industry groups
