Roman Eric Sieler

Find me on Linked In
Take a look at my CV
CV_Website_Sieler.pdf (132.51KB)
Take a look at my CV
CV_Website_Sieler.pdf (132.51KB)
See my Google Scholar


Contact

Office 4.40, WWZ
Peter Merian-Weg 6, 4052 Basel
Switzerland

roman [at] romansieler.com


For other things I did, see

Talking Greenish Podcast

Youth Climate Action Panel

Me on why COP matters

Zeit Z2X23 Festival



Research 

My research asks how environmental change affects people and how policy can respond. A central focus is coral reefs: using satellite data and machine learning, I build large-scale records of coral bleaching and estimate what reef loss costs the communities that depend on them, from fisheries and nutrition to child health. I also study how air pollution affects firms and how firms respond to climate policy such as the EU Emissions Trading System. Across these projects, I combine remote sensing and spatial data with causal econometric methods, often in interdisciplinary collaboration.


Job-Market Paper

Sieler, Roman Eric (2026). Coral Bleaching Reduces Child Growth Through Nutritional Pathways. 

Preprint available under: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21784483. 


Climate change is degrading the ecosystems people rely on, and coral bleaching is among its first large-scale, observable impacts. Using a novel satellite-derived, machine-learning bleaching dataset and long-run heat stress as an instrument, I show that climate-driven bleaching in East Africa reduces fish catch by about 26% of the mean and household fresh fish consumption by up to 21%, and that children exposed in utero or in their first two years are significantly shorter for their age. Households do not appear to adapt through assets, labor, or migration.


Working Papers


Ongoing Work

  • A Global Satellite-Derived Coral Bleaching Dataset, 2016–2025 (data paper in preparation)
  • Global Analysis of Coral Bleaching Impacts on Fisheries, with Christopher Golden (Harvard University), Jessica Zamborain-Mason (KAUST), and Christina Dräger (Harvard University), early stage
  • The Impact of Coral Bleaching on Micronutrients in East African Fisheries, with Bryan Galligan (Harvard University)
  • Coral Bleaching and Human–Wildlife Conflict: Crocodile Attacks, with Francesco Cenerini (National Taiwan University)
  • What Drives Civil Society Influence in Global Climate Negotiations? with Paula Mónica Castro Pareja (ZHAW Zürich)


Datasets

  • A global satellite-derived coral bleaching dataset (2016–2025): Satellite-derived monthly bleaching predictions for reef cells worldwide. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20676159. Currently under embargo; open release is planned together with the accompanying data paper. Feel free to contact me for access.


Teaching

At the University of Basel:
  • Fundamentals of Public Economics (lecturer for part of the course and teaching assistant, 2022–2026)
  • International Political Economy of Energy and Climate Policy (invited lecturer, 2025) 
  • Scientific Work II: academic writing and research methods (teaching assistant, 2025) 
  • Public and Environmental Economics Seminars: supervision of bachelor's and master's theses (2022–2026)


Scientific Conference Presentations

  • 16th International Coral Reef Symposium, Auckland, New Zealand (2026)
  • World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, Lisbon, Portugal (2026)
  • German Development Economics Conference / 1st Conference of the EDEG, Kiel, Germany (2026)
  • Annual Congress of the Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, St. Gallen, Switzerland (2026,)
  • Monte Verità Conference on Sustainable Resource Use and Economic Dynamics, Ascona, Switzerland (2026)
  • 14th Mannheim Conference on Energy and the Environment, Mannheim, Germany (2026)
  • Sixth Workshop on Environmental Economic Analyses Using AFiD, Mannheim, Germany (2026)
  • 30th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Bergen, Norway (2025)
  • 13th Mannheim Conference on Energy and the Environment, Mannheim, Germany (2025)
  • Summer Conference of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Washington DC, USA (2024)
  • Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Workshop in Sustainable Development (IPWSD) at Columbia, New York City, USA (2024)
  • 28th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Limassol, Cyprus (2023)
  • 11th Mannheim Conference on Energy and the Environment, Mannheim, Germany (2023)


Seminar Presentations and Visits

  • Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment Seminar, USA (2025)
  • Seminar of Christopher Golden, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA (2025)
  • Sustainable Future Research Lunch, University of Basel, Switzerland (2025)
  • Economics Lunch, University of Basel, Switzerland (2025)
  • U.S. Seminar in Business, Law and Economic Policy, New York University, USA (2025)
  • Seminar of Arik Levinson, Georgetown University, USA (2025)
  • Seminar of Christopher Golden, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, online (2024)
  • Gaines Lab, Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, USA (2024)
  • Scripps Institution, University of California in San Diego, USA (2024)
  • Environmental Markets Lab Research Roundtable, University of California Santa Barbara, USA (2024)
  • Carleton Lab Meeting, University of California Santa Barbara, USA (2024)
  • Ciclo de Seminarios Académicos, Universidad de Talca, Chile (2022)