Essays in policy evaluation

We evaluate the effect of three different policies: the containment measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the "Robin Hood" tax and the electricity market bidding zone re-configuration. In Chapter 1 we analyse the impact of the containment measures on the mobility indicator. We find that that the decrease in mobility due to the implementation of stringency measures is sensitive to citizens’ knowledge about the severity of pandemic itself. We find that this effect is driven by countries with low quality of governance and low education. Our contribution suggests that coercive regulation such as pandemic related containment measures must be accompanied by an adequate communication effort. In Chapter 2 we discuss how big firms in the energy sector reacted to a temporary surtax. Our results show that the estimated effect of the surtax is null, and that the tax is neither shifted onto labor nor onto capital. Finally, in Chapter 3 we discuss how the electricity market bidding zone configuration affects relevant market outcomes such as prices and cross-country and cross-zonal flows. We use these outcome variables as a measure of market efficiency because they reflect the appropriateness of price signals and the proper use of transmission capacities. Our contribution shows empirically that the nodal market design gives better market signals and improve the use of cross-country flows.