Senior Research Associate
Assistant Director, Energy Policy Research Group
MA (University of St Andrews), DPhil (University of Oxford)
My research interests span industrial organisation, climate policy, and energy economics, with much of my current work sits at the nexus between power, carbon and natural gas markets.
Recent research projects are on carbon pricing (including the design of a carbon border adjustment mechanism), the economics of cost pass-through, competition in global gas markets, and market design for high-renewables electricity systems.
Professional experience
Robert Ritz is Assistant Director of the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) at the University of Cambridge and the Director of its Energy Policy Forum, Senior Research Associate in Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, and a Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics at Peterhouse, Cambridge.
Robert is an expert on competitive strategy, energy markets, and carbon pricing. He serves as a member of the Academic Panels at the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) and Office of Gas & Electricity Markets (Ofgem). His research has been published in leading international journals including the RAND Journal of Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and Journal of Financial Intermediation, and he has contributed to the Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization.
He is an External Faculty Affiliate of MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and chairs the Scientific Committee of the Chair of the Economics of Natural Gas at Mines ParisTech.
Robert is also a Principal at Vivid Economics. He has advised European policymakers and some of the world’s largest multinationals on the competitive and financial impacts of the climate transition, the design of carbon markets, and the future of natural gas.
He holds a DPhil in Economics from Nuffield College, Oxford University, an MA in Financial Economics from the University of St Andrews, and attended the University of Pennsylvania and its Wharton School as a McNeil Scholar.
He has taught economics at Oxford and Cambridge for over 15 years.
Previous appointments
Before moving to Cambridge, Robert was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Economics at Oxford University and held research and teaching positions at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and St Hugh’s College, Oxford.
Earlier in his career, he worked on corporate strategy at McKinsey & Company and on financial stability at the Bank of England. He has been a visiting scholar at MIT and the IMF.
Publications
Selected publications
- Ritz, R. (2024) “Does competition increase pass-through?” RAND Journal of Economics (DOI: 10.1111/1756-2171.12461) (published Feb 2024)
- Ritz, R. and Mehling, M. (2023) “From theory to practice: determining emissions in traded goods under a border carbon adjustment.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 39(1): 123-133 (DOI: 10.1093/oxrep/grac043)
- Ritz, R. (2022) “Global carbon price asymmetry.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 114: 102687 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102687)
- Ritz, R.A. (2022) “Linking executive compensation to climate performance.” California Management Review, 64(3): 124-140 (DOI: 10.1177/00081256221077470)
- Evans, S., Mehling, M.A., Ritz, R. and Sammon, P. (2021) “Border carbon adjustments and industrial competitiveness in a European Green Deal.” Climate Policy, 21(3): 307-317 (DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1856637)
- Ritz, R. and Holmberg, P. (2020) “Optimal capacity mechanisms for competitive electricity markets.” Energy Journal, 41(S1) (DOI: 10.5547/01956574.42.S12.phol)
Journal articles
- Ritz, R. (2024) “Does competition increase pass-through?” RAND Journal of Economics (DOI: 10.1111/1756-2171.12461) (published Feb 2024)
- Ritz, R. and Mehling, M. (2023) “From theory to practice: determining emissions in traded goods under a border carbon adjustment.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 39(1): 123-133 (DOI: 10.1093/oxrep/grac043)
- Ritz, R. (2022) “Global carbon price asymmetry.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 114: 102687 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102687)
- Ritz, R.A. (2022) “Linking executive compensation to climate performance.” California Management Review, 64(3): 124-140 (DOI: 10.1177/00081256221077470)
- Evans, S., Mehling, M.A., Ritz, R. and Sammon, P. (2021) “Border carbon adjustments and industrial competitiveness in a European Green Deal.” Climate Policy, 21(3): 307-317 (DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1856637)
- Ritz, R. and Holmberg, P. (2020) “Optimal capacity mechanisms for competitive electricity markets.” Energy Journal, 41(S1) (DOI: 10.5547/01956574.42.S12.phol)
- Newbery, D.M., Reiner, D.M. and Ritz, R.A. (2019) “The political economy of a carbon price floor for power generation.” The Energy Journal, 40(1) (DOI: 10.5547/01956574.40.1.dnew)
- Ritz, R. (2019) “A strategic perspective on competition between pipeline gas and LNG.” The Energy Journal, 40(5) (DOI: 10.5547/01956574.40.5.rrit)
- Teirila, J. and Ritz, R.A. (2019) “Strategic behaviour in a capacity market? The new Irish electricity market design.” The Energy Journal, 40(Special Issue) (DOI: 10.5547/01956574.40.SI1.jtei)
- Newbery, D., Pollitt, M.G., Ritz, R.A. and Strielkowski, W. (2018) “Market design for a high-renewables European electricity system.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 91: 695-707 (DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2018.04.025)
- Behar, A. and Ritz, R.A. (2017) “OPEC vs US shale: analyzing the shift to a market-share strategy.” Energy Economics, 63: 185-197 (DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2016.12.021)
- Ritz, R.A. (2016) “How does renewables competition affect forward contracting in electricity markets?”Economics Letters, 146: 135-139 (DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2016.07.024)
- Hahn, R.W. and Ritz, R.A. (2015) “Does the social cost of carbon matter? Evidence from US policy.”Journal of Legal Studies, 229-248 (DOI: 10.1086/680990)
- Ritz, R.A. and Walther, A. (2015) “How do banks respond to increased funding uncertainty?”Journal of Financial Intermediation, 24(3): 386-410 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jfi.2014.12.001)
- Ritz, R.A. (2014) “A new version of Edgeworth’s taxation paradox.”Oxford Economic Papers, 66(1): 209-226 (DOI: 10.1093/oep/gpt003)
- Ritz, R.A. (2014) “On welfare losses due to imperfect competition.”Journal of Industrial Economics, 62(1): 167-190 (DOI: 10.1111/joie.12038)
- Ritz, R.A. (2014) “Price discrimination and limits to arbitrage: an analysis of global LNG markets.”Energy Economics, 45: 324-332 (DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2014.07.013)
- Hepburn, C.A., Quah, J.K-H. and Ritz, R.A. (2013) “Emissions trading with profit-neutral permit allocations.”Journal of Public Economics, 98: 85-99 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2012.10.004)
- Ritz, R.A. (2009) “Cost pass-through under delegation.”E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, 8(1): 0000102202193517041383 (DOI: 10.2202/1935-1704.1383)
- Ritz, R.A. (2008) “Influencing rent-seeking contests.”Public Choice, 135(3-4): 291-300 (DOI: 10.1007/s11127-007-9263-9)
- Ritz, R.A. (2008) “Strategic incentives for market share.”International Journal of Industrial Organization, 26(20: 586-597 (DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2007.04.006)
Book chapters
- Ritz, R.A. (2018) “Oligopolistic competition and welfare.” In: Corchón, L.C. and Marini, M.A. (eds.) Handbook of game theory and industrial organization: vol.1. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.181-201
News and insights
ESG and sustainability
Cambridge study finds executive pay will be affected by climate change
A more 'holistic' approach will be developed to link executive pay to climate-change metrics across the supply chain, says a new study by Robert Ritz of Cambridge Judge Business School.
Misc news
Sustainable investment
Look more closely at corporate divestitures of carbon-heavy assets, says Robert Ritz, Senior Research Associate in Economics & Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Media coverage
The Economist | 29 November 2023
An unruly OPEC is causing problems for Russia and Saudi Arabia
A recent Economist article references Robert Ritz’s study “OPEC vs US shale: analyzing the shift to a market-share strategy” (DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2016.12.021)