UNIverse - Public Research Portal
Profile Photo

Prof. Dr. Aya Kachi

Faculty of Business and Economics
Profiles & Affiliations

International Political Economy, Public Opinion, Political Methodology, Energy Politics, Climate Politics, Policy Communication

With over 10 years of experience analyzing policy processes in the energy and climate domains, I do research to assist policymaking on these highly politicized issues. Part of my work inspects how people form policy preferences, focusing on the role of policy-induced costs perceived by the public. My work also looks at the macro-level policy landscape, analyzing why countries experience different policymaking processes and generate different policies in energy and climate domains. Here, the role of the state-market relationship and lobbying is one of the primary focuses. My work is based on quantitative analyses with large-N data, including observational, survey, and text data. 


As an organizational behavior enthusiast, all this research dealing with competing stakes has also made it my second nature to think about how we can communicate goals and measures more effectively in various settings outside policymaking. I welcome opportunities to work on creative tasks to understand, develop, and implement communication strategies across multiple decision-making scenarios.

Selected Publications

Hettich, Peter, & Kachi, Aya. (2022). Swiss Energy Governance: Political, Economic and Legal Challenges and Opportunities in the Energy Transition (1 ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80787-0

URLs
URLs

Stutzer, Roman, Rinscheid, Adrian, Oliveira, Thiago D., Loureiro, Pedro Mendes, Kachi, Aya, & Duygan, Mert. (2021). Black coal, thin ice: the discursive legitimisation of Australian coal in the age of climate change. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8(1), 178. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00827-5

URLs
URLs

Wucherpfennig, Julian, Kachi, Aya, Bormann, Nils-Christian, & Hunziker, Philipp. (2021). A Fast Estimator for Binary Choice Models with Spatial, Temporal, and Spatio-Temporal Interdependence. Political Analysis, 29(3), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1017/pan.2020.54

URLs
URLs

Franzese Jr., Robert J., Hays, Jude C., & Kachi, Aya. (2012). Modeling History Dependence in Network-Behavior Coevolution. Political Analysis, 20(2), 175–190. https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpr049

URLs
URLs

Hays, Jude C., Kachi, Aya, & Franzese Jr., Robert J. (2010). A spatial model incorporating dynamic, endogenous network interdependence: A political science application. Statistical Methodology, 7, 406–428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stamet.2009.11.005

URLs
URLs

Selected Projects & Collaborations

Project cover

The Political Economy of Coal Policy: Comparative Analyses of Stakeholder Strategies and Resource Industries' Embeddedness in the International Economy

Research Project  | 1 Project Members

Discontinuation policies such as phase-out of coal must be considered for low-carbon transitions. Yet a phase-out policy as a way to destabilize incumbent socio-technical regimes has drawn limited attention, unlike "phase-in" of clean technologies. Coal is still a major energy supply and largest source of CO 2 emissions in many countries. We conduct a comparative case study to investigate why some jurisdictions covered more ground in coal phase-out while others failed to bring it even on the political agenda. Since phase-out policies are especially prone to political contestations, we focus on actors influencing national energy policies, their interests and agency to explain the different trajectories across cases with respect to coal phase-out. This project focuses on in-depth analyses of 4 cases; Alberta (Canada), Australia, Germany and Japan. They are all large CO 2 emitters, but their coal phase-out trajectories are diverse. Their trajectories display counter- evident patterns to theory-driven expectations in political economy and transition research, given their coal production and trade profile. To explain this gap, we adapt an interdisciplinary approach in analyzing the evolution of discourses, actors' resource endowments and their practices. We employ mixed methods consisting of surveys, document analysis and semi-structured interviews, followed both by qualitative and quantitative analyses. A comparative analysis contributes to theory-building in enactment of phase-out policies and the role of agency in destabilization of socio-technical regimes. The project will yield practically relevant insights for transition forerunners and policymakers in developing strategies for disrupting path- dependency of unsustainable technologies hindering low-carbon transitions.

Project cover

In Search of Decoupling: (How) Can We Combine Climate Sustainability with Economic Growth, Good Jobs, and Public Preferences?

Research Project  | 1 Project Members

Whether economic growth inevitably increases greenhouse gas emissions may be the most contentious issue within the climate research and environmental communities. Some are optimistic about opportunities for "green growth" and new jobs in less polluting industries; others reject that emissions can be sustainably "decoupled" from growth. This open question is one important reason for policymakers' slow decision-making about how to address the challenge of climate change. Given this debate, and the urgent need for politically feasible policies that are both effective and economical, we propose a three-part program to better illuminate the relationship between growth and emissions. First, we will investigate prior changes in countries' emissions, and the political and socioeconomic factors behind them. Using statistical models, we will compare emissions from different sources, and focus in particular on the impacts of public attitudes and the relative sizes of different industries. Second, we will qualitatively examine in-depth the cases of countries that have most decoupled economic growth from various sources of emissions. Under what conditions have these achievements, including key policy decisions, been possible? Third, we will investigate what people believe to be key policies' impacts on growth and employment. How do those beliefs shape preferences with respect to climate policies, and how closely do they match the actual track records of existing policies?