We’re delighted to share that Augustus Smith (All Souls College and Department of Economics) has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the 2025 Network of Industrial Economists (NIE) Early Career Researchers’ Symposium, held on 26 June.
Augustus received the prize for his paper, The consequences of a British combustion engine ban, which explores the hypothetical impact of banning the sale of new combustion engine vehicles in Great Britain from 2023. The paper finds that, due to the popularity of hybrid vehicles, the proposed ban would not strongly incentivise firms to develop electric alternatives. It also shows that low-income households would be disproportionately affected, while overall reductions in CO₂ emissions would be limited.
Instead, Augustus finds that a revenue-neutral mix of sales taxes and subsidies could deliver 50% of the climate benefit of the ban at just 15% of the cost.
The Best Paper Award is sponsored by Charles River Associates and recognises outstanding early career research in theoretical and empirical industrial economics.
You can read the full working paper here.
Congratulations to Augustus on this well-deserved recognition!
