Working Paper: NBER ID: w13215
Authors: James B. Bushnell; Catherine Wolfram
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of individual human operators on the fuel efficiency of power plants. Although electricity generation is a fuel and capital intensive enterprise, anecdotal evidence, interviews, and empirical analysis support the hypothesis that labor, particularly power plant operators, can have a non-trivial impact on the operating efficiency of the plant. We present evidence to demonstrate these effects and survey the policies and practices of electricity producing firms that either reduce or exacerbate fuel efficiency differences across individual plant operators.
Keywords: Labor Quality; Power Plant Efficiency; Electricity Generation; Human Resource Policies
JEL Codes: J24; L51; L94; M54
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Individual operators (C69) | Fuel efficiency of power plants (L94) |
| Best operators (C69) | Fuel efficiency of power plants (L94) |
| Operator-specific effects (C69) | Fuel efficiency of power plants (L94) |
| Operator performance (C69) | Fuel efficiency of power plants (L94) |
| Operator decisions (L23) | Fuel efficiency of power plants (L94) |