Department
Working Group
Contact
14412 Potsdam
ORCID
I work as senior scientist in the research group "Public Economics and Climate Finance" at PIK's RD5. I also work at the Berlin Institute of Technology / Fak. VI / Economics of Climate Change as lecturer and have visited the University of Arizona as a guest scientist in 2024. Prior to my PhD at PIK and TU Berlin, I graduated from HU Berlin with a German Diploma in Mathematics.
My research focuses on the analysis of policy instruments at the interface between public economics and the economics of climate change. Currently, I work on policies for carbon dioxide removal (CDR). I have published on policies in the areas of sustainable development, carbon dioxide removal, tax competition, the supply side dynamics of fossil resource extraction, inequality and the intra- and intergenerational distribution of wealth.
Currently, I am working on
- Optimal Carbon Pricing when Carbon Removal is not Permanent (with Ottmar Edenhofer, Friedemann Gruner, Matthias Kalkuhl and Kai Lessmann)
- A Governance Perspective on The Economics of Carbon Dioxide Removal (with Ottmar Edenhofer, Friedemann Gruner, Matthias Kalkuhl and Kai Lessmann)
On policies for sustainable diets, see this press release: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/climate-fee-on-food-could-effectively-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions-in-agriculture-while-ensuring-a-social-balance
On policies for carbon dioxide removal and interregional leakage, hear me speak on the "Reviewer 2 does Geoengineering podcast":
and see this press release: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/carbon-dioxide-removal-should-receive-additional-financial-support
On equity considerations of carbon pricing, see this press release: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/ted-redistribution-the-socially-just-price-for-co2
On carbon pricing and sustainable development, see this press release: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/flipping-the-switch-making-use-of-carbon-price-dollars-for-health-and-education
On inequality and policy options to redistribute wealth, see this press release: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/wealth-inequality-closing-the-gap-by-taxing-land-and-bequests
Peer reviewed articles
Martin Hänsel, Max Kellner, Max Franks, Friedemann Gruner, Matthias Kalkuhl, Felix Knopp, Ottmar Edenhofer (2025). Lessons learned from the German Double Whammy: The importance of price incentives and targeted compensation for the design of energy and climate policy. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. DOI: 10.1086/732190
Julian Schaper, Max Franks, Nicolas Koch, Charlotte Plinke, Michael Sureth (2025). Emission and distributional effects of a CO2e-tax on agricultural goods - The case of Germany. Food Policy. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102794
Ottmar Edenhofer, Max Franks, Matthias Kalkuhl, Artur Runge-Metzger (2024). On the Governance of Carbon Dioxide Removal – A Public Economics Perspective. FinanzArchiv. DOI: 10.1628/fa-2023-0012. Download accepted manuscript here.
Max Franks and Ottmar Edenhofer (2023). Optimal Redistributive Wealth Taxation When Wealth Is More Than Just Capital. FinanzArchiv . DOI: 10.1628/fa-2023-0011. Download accepted manuscript here.
Max Franks, Kai Lessmann (2023). Tax competition with asymmetric endowments in fossil resources. Resources Policy. DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103613. Download accepted manuscript here.
Max Franks, Matthias Kalkuhl, Kai Lessmann (2023). Optimal Pricing for Carbon Dioxide Removal Under Inter-Regional Leakage. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102769. Download accepted manuscript here.
Martin Hänsel, Max Franks, Matthias Kalkuhl and Ottmar Edenhofer (2022). Optimal Carbon Taxation and Horizontal Equity: A welfare-theoretic approach with application to German household data. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102730
Ottmar Edenhofer, Max Franks and Matthias Kalkuhl (2021). "Pigou in the 21st Century. A tribute on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Economics of Welfare." International Tax and Public Finance. DOI: 10.1007/s10797-020-09653-y.
Max Franks, Kai Lessmann, Michael Jakob, Jan Steckel, and Ottmar Edenhofer (2018). "Mobilizing Domestic Resources for the Agenda 2030 via Carbon Pricing" Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0083-3.
Max Franks, David Klenert, Anselm Schultes, Kai Lessmann, and Ottmar Edenhofer (2018). "Is Capital Back? The Role of Land Ownership and Savings Behavior." International Tax and Public Finance. DOI: 10.1007/s10797-018-9486-3. Download accepted manuscript here.
Siegmeier, Jan, Linus Mattauch, Max Franks, David Klenert, Anselm Schultes, and Ottmar Edenhofer (2018). "The fiscal benefits of stringent climate change mitigation: an overview." Climate Policy 18(3), p 352-367. DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2017.1400943. Download accepted manuscript here.
Gregor Schwerhoff, Max Franks (2018). "Optimal Environmental Taxation with Capital Mobility." Fiscal Studies. DOI: . Download accepted manuscript here.
Max Franks, Ottmar Edenhofer, and Kai Lessmann (2017). "Why Finance Ministers Favor Carbon Taxes, Even if They Do Not Take Climate Change into Account." Environmental and Resource Economics. DOI: 10.1007/s10640-015-9982-1. Download accepted manuscript here.
Other publications
Matthias Kalkuhl, Max Franks, Friedemann Gruner, Kai Lessmann, Ottmar Edenhofer (2022). Pigou’s Advice and Sisyphus’ Warning: Carbon Pricing with Non-Permanent Carbon-Dioxide Removal. CESifo working paper No. 10169. https://www.cesifo.org/node/73501
Bjoern Soergel, Elmar Kriegler, Christoph Bertram, Michael Crawford, Laura Delsa, Max Franks, Florian Humpenöder, Debbora Leip, Kai Lessmann, Alexander Popp, Nicolas Taconet, Isabelle Weindl, and Ottmar Edenhofer (2022). Joint implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change mitigation and biosphere protection: Policy options for tackling multiple crises simultaneously. Potsdam : Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), 33 p. https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2022.003
Linus Mattauch, Felix Creutzig, Nils aus dem Moore, Max Franks, Franziska Funke, Michael Jakob, Lutz Sager, Moritz Schwarz, Achim Voß, Marie-Luise Beck, Claus-Heinrich Daub, Moritz Drupp, Felix Ekardt, Gregor Hagedorn, Mathias Kirchner, Tobias Kruse, Thomas Loew, Karsten Neuhoff, Isabella Neuweg, Sonja Peterson, Matthias Roesti, Gerhard Schneider, Robert Schmidt, Reimund Schwarze, Jan Siegmeier, Philippe Thalmann, Johannes Wallacher (2019). Antworten auf zentrale Fragen zur Einführung von CO2-Preisen. Gestaltungsoptionen und ihre Auswirkungen für den schnellen Übergang in die klimafreundliche Gesellschaft. Diskussionsbeiträge der Scientists for Future 2, 2019, http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3371150
Ottmar Edenhofer and Max Franks (2017). Kann ein CO2-Preis nachhaltige Entwicklung finanzieren?, In: Ischinger, W., Messner, D. (eds.): Deutschlands Neue Verantwortung - Die Zukunft der deutschen und europäischen Außen-, Entwicklungs- und Sicherheitspolitik, Econ Verlag, 170-177, http://www.deutschlands-verantwortung.de/beitraege/kann-ein-co2-preis-nachhaltige-entwicklung-finanzieren
Max Franks (2016). "Rents, Taxes, and Distribution: Towards a New Public Economics of Climate Change." PhD thesis, TU Berlin, http://dx.doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-5585.
Supervision of master's theses:
| 2023 |
Regulatory and implementational challenges of including carbon dioxide removal into the EU ETS. A review of literature and interview with experts. On the governance of carbon dioxide removal in Brazil Towards sustainable diets: how can the transition succeed? A systematic literature review on policy instruments for sustainable food consumption |
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2022 |
On the emission and distributional effects of a CO2e-tax on agricultural goods - The case of Germany |
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2020 |
The role of negative emissions for optimal climate policy. Investigating the relationship between food prices and the deployment of BECCS |
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2019 |
Numerical Analysis of the Social Cost of Carbon in a Decentralized Economy Model in GAMS - a Modular Approach |
Courses taught:
| 2024/25 | Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofe) | ||
| 2023/24 | Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofer) | ||
| 2023 | Summer Term, Economics of Climate Change (with Ottmar Edenhofer) | ||
| 2022/23 | Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Hänsel), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
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2022 |
Summer Term, Economics of Climate Change (with Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Hänsel) | ||
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2021/22 |
Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Hänsel), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
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2021 |
Summer Term, Economics of Climate Change (with Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Hänsel) | ||
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2020/21 |
Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Hänsel), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
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2018/19 |
Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofer), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
| 2018 | Summer Term, Economics of Climate Change (with Ottmar Edenhofer and Kerstin Burghaus), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
| 2017/18 | Winter Term, Economics of Climate Policy (with Ottmar Edenhofer), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
| 2017 | Summer Term, Economics of Climate Change (with Ottmar Edenhofer), Technische Universität Berlin | ||
| 2013 | Summer Term, Climate Change Economics: Green Growth and New Models of Prosperity -- Fairy Tale or Strategy? (responsible: Ottmar Edenhofer), Technische Universität Berlin |
2022 First prize for the best paper submitted to the German Federal Ministry of Finance's seminar on market based climate policy.
2017 Invitation to the 6th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on Economic Sciences
2016 Potsdam Young Scientist Award for an outstanding PhD thesis
2015 Best Overall Paper of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform's 3rd annual conference
