Dr CHANG Youngho
Adjunct Senior Fellow
Phone: 6316-8781
Email: isyhchang@ntu.edu.sg
Research Interests
- The economics of global warming and climate change
- The economics of renewable resources and energy conservation
- The transition of resource use in an economy
- Efficiency and equity in electricity markets
- The effectiveness of a new market structure in a deregulated electricity market
- The economics of energy security
- Energy and economic growth in China
- Oil price fluctuations and macroeconomic performance
- The economics of sustainability
Short Biography
CHANG Youngho is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Division of Economics and in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also a member of the R&D Workgroup and Household Subcommittee for the National Climate Change Committee (N3C).
Dr CHANG teaches Energy Security to graduate students and Energy Economics to undergraduate students at NTU. Prior to this, he taught Resource and Energy Economics, Environmental Economics, Macroeconomics, Principles of Economics, and Economics of the Environment from 1999 to 2007 at the National University of Singapore. He has conducted courses for government officials from the region and the world at the Singapore Environment Institute (SEI), the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and has been invited to speak at numerous energy workshops, conferences and seminars, including the 7th East Asia Summit Energy Cooperation Task Force Meeting in Seoul in June 2008.
Dr CHANG specialises in the economics of climate change, the economics of renewable resources, energy and security, oil and economy, and electricity market deregulation. His current research interests are oil price fluctuations and macroeconomic performances, the economics of energy security, the transition of resource use in an economy, the economics of sustainability, energy use and climate change, and the effectiveness of new market structures in deregulated electricity markets. He has published research papers in academic journals such as Econometric Theory, Economics Letters, Energy Policy, International Journal of Global Energy Issues, and International Journal of Electronic Business Management. He has also carried out consultation projects for the public and private sector including “Analysis of the Effectiveness of New Market Structure in Electricity Industry,” “Understanding the Drivers for Ethanol Demand” and “Cost-benefit Analysis of the Kyoto Protocol for Singapore.” He has worked for international academic associations such as the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) as a member of the organising committee for its annual conferences and a judge for the best student paper competition for the IAEE conferences. He was a degree fellow at the East-West Center, Hawaii and received his BASc (in Landscape Architecture) from the Seoul National University, MA (in Economics) from the Yonsei University and Ph.D. (in Economics) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Commentaries
CHANG Youngho, Benjamin TANG, “Taxing Questions on the Carbon Challenge”, 3 December 2009
Others (ESI Bulletin)
CHANG Youngho, Benjamin TANG, HUM Wei Mei, “Energy and Economy Modelling”, 31 March 2009
Current Projects
The Economic Valuations of Climate Change and Energy
This study constructs a global economy-energy-environment model (3E Model) and using the model, it examines how energy use and vis-à-vis greenhouse gas emissions influence global climate and estimates the economics costs of possible damage from climate change and of efforts to mitigate climate change via reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy and Climate Change: Towards Sustainable Development
Using the 3E Model, this study suggests policy recommendations for making an economy move towards sustainable development.
The Economics of Carbon Mitigation in Singapore
This study construct a country-specific economy-energy model such as MARKAL-MACRO or a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, it evaluates the costs of reducing carbon emissions for Singapore.
The Effects of Deregulation on Efficiency of Electricity Markets
Singapore has liberalized its electricity market and is about to divest quasi-publicly owned generation companies fully into private entities. This study examines the effectiveness of deregulation in the Singapore electricity market as to whether it has achieved the intended efficiency gains.
Pricing Behavior and Market Power in a Deregulated Electricity Market
Market power and vis-à-vis price spikes above competitive benchmark prices are considered a downside of deregulation especially in electricity market. This study evaluates how prices behave in the deregulated electricity market in Singapore and whether market power has existed in the market.
Price-Elastic Demand and Forward Contracts in Electricity Markets
This study constructs an empirical approach to test how forward trading and price elasticity interact and the extent to which each policy measure is a more effective tool for improving efficiency.
Energy Diversification in ASEAN+3 Countries
The high degree of dependence on fossil fuels in energy supply is one of the root causes for why such an economy is so vulnerable to fluctuations of energy supply and weak in ensuring energy security. This study suggests diversifying energy sources is one of the ways to ensure energy security and present a measure with which policy makers can judge the status of energy security in the economy and evaluate the directions towards ensuring the high degree of energy security.
An Integrated Energy Market in ASEAN+3 Countries
At a global scale, the amount energy supplied is a little less than that demanded. This implies an integrated energy market would help a nation or region ensure a higher degree of energy security through trading in the market. For commodities like crude oil or coal, there are relatively well-integrated and functioning energy markets. But there are no such well-developed markets for trading electricity or natural gas. This study suggests how an integrated energy market would help ensure energy security in the region.
Pan-Asian Gas Trade Model
A link either a pipeline or a tanker is needed for natural gas needs to be traded and/or transported. However, no such link has been fully developed. Hence the level of natural gas trade is relatively small compared to that of oil or coal. This study constructs a natural gas trade model for the pan-Asian region including the Middle East and Russian Far-East and presents how prices and quantities traded in the region are affected under two hypothetical regimes: a competitive trade link in which economically viable links are assumed to be connected and a full-fledged trade link in which all pipelines are assumed to be connected in the region, LNG terminals constructed and tankers available.
Demand Influence on Crude Oil Prices
Supply restriction is considered a main culprit for surging oil prices. Apart from this cause, this study examines how downstream demand such as final consumer demand or intermediate demand from refineries influence fluctuations of oil prices.
Technology, R&D, and Sustainability
Technology progress via R&D is suggested a way of ensuring sustainability in an economy. This study examines how and what technology and R&D efforts help ensure a path to sustainable development.
Selected Publications
CHANG Yangho and Jian Liang Lee. “Electricity market deregulation and energy security: A study of the UK and Singapore electricity markets”, International Journal of Global Energy Issues (to be published).
CHANG Yangho and Wai Lit Toh. “Efficiency of generation companies in the deregulated electricity market of Singapore: Parametric and non-parametric approaches”, International Journal of Electronic Business Management 5(3): 225-238 (2007).
CHANG Youngho and Jiayun Yong. “Differing perspectives of major oil firms on future energy developments: An illustrative framework”, Energy Policy 35(11): 5466-5480 (2007).
CHANG Youngho and Cheolbeom Park. “Electricity market structure, electricity price and its volatility”, Economics Letters, 95(2): 192-197 (2007).
CHANG Youngho. “The new electricity market of Singapore: Regulatory framework, market power and competition”, Energy Policy, 35(1): 403-412 (2007).
CHANG Youngho and Tuan Hin Tay. “Efficiency and deregulation of the electricity market in Singapore”, Energy Policy, 34(16): 2498-2508 (2006).
CHANG Youngho and Joon Fong Wong. “Oil price fluctuations and the Singapore economy”, Energy Policy, 31(11): 1151-1165 (2003).
Recent Presentations
“Energy Technology: Is it a Solution for Climate Change?” at the “2nd Energy and Economy Modelling Workshop” organized by ESI, 19-20 October 2009.
“Implications of Low Oil Prices” at “Energy Security Conference” organized by ESI, 22 May 2009.
CHANG Youngho, Benjamin TANG, “Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal and Electricity Market in Singapore” at 28th USAEE/IAEE North American Conference on Unveiling the Future of Energy Frontiers, New Orleans, LA, USA, 3-5 December 2008.
CHANG Youngho, Benjamin TANG, “Electricity Demand and the Rebound from Generation Efficiency Gains” at 2nd Asian Conference of the International Association for Energy Economics, Perth, Australia, 5-7 November 2008.