Hyuntae Choi

I am a Research Professor at Jeonbuk National University and am also affiliated with the KAIST IAM Group, where I am advised by Haewon McJeon. My research combines integrated assessment modeling and econometric analysis to study climate change, energy transitions, green growth, and sustainability. I am also interested in causal inference approaches to public policy evaluation, with applications in corporate governance, institutional behavior, and policy simulation. I received my PhD from Seoul National University, where I was supervised by Sangin Park.

Research Interests

Integrated assessment modeling
Empirical evaluation of public policy
Policy simulation
Sustainable industrial and economic transitions
Corporate governance & institutional behavior

Education

Seoul National University 2021 – 2026

PhD in Public Policy

Supervisor: Sangin Park

Committee: Soonae Park (Chair), Jonghyun Yoo (Vice Chair), Sangin Park, Haewon McJeon, Hyung Sik Choi

Dissertation: Evaluating Domestic Mitigation Policy Targets under Scenarios of Industrial Competitiveness Erosion and Trade Regulation

Seoul National University 2016 – 2019

Master in Public Policy

Seoul National University 2010 – 2016

Bachelor of Economics

Publications

Choi, H. (2026). Evaluating the expansion of air quality management zones: Facility emissions, area-wide emissions, and local air quality. Journal of Environmental Policy and Administration. (Forthcoming)

Choi, H. (2026). Agricultural electricity tariff increases and changes in electricity demand: Decomposing customer accounts, contracted capacity per account, and electricity use per unit of contracted capacity. The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers, 75(9). (Forthcoming)

Choi, H. (2026). K-HELM: Municipal electricity demand by hour and end use in Korea, 2004–2050. GEO DATA. (Forthcoming)

Choi, H., McJeon, H., & Park, S. (2026). Transition or contraction? Implications of the twin burden faced by Korea’s heavy and chemical industries for the 2035 NDC and beyond. Environmental and Resource Economics Review. (Forthcoming)

Choi, H., Park, S., & McJeon, H. (2026). High-ambition climate action in all sectors can achieve a 59% greenhouse gas emissions reduction in Korea by 2035. Scientific Reports. [SCI(E) Q1]

Choi, H., McJeon, H., & Park, S. (2025). An integrated assessment of the 11th basic plan for long-term electricity supply and demand and alternative power generation mix scenarios. Journal of Climate Change Research, 16(3-1), 469–485. [Scopus] (in Korean)

Kim, J., Park, S., & Choi, H. (2023). On simulations of housing capital gains tax based on household data. Budget Policy Research, 12(4), 61–106. [KCI] (in Korean)

Choi, H., & Park, S. (2022). Government subsidies to occupational pension funds of small-and-medium-sized enterprise employees and their consequences on old-age incomes of these employees in Korea. Korean Social Security Studies, 38(1), 5–50. [KCI] (in Korean) · Article

Policy Reports

Choi, H., Ha, J., Behrendt, J., Borrero, M., George, M., Bertram, C., Hultman, N., Park, S., McJeon, H., & Cui, R. (2025). High ambition pathways for Korea to achieve a 60% NDC target by 2035. Center for Global Sustainability.

Park, S., & Choi, H. (2023). Trends in tunneling after changes in regulation of related-party transactions, 2011–2022. ESG Review, 2023(4), 3–18. (in Korean)

Park, S., Kim, J., & Choi, H. (2022). On simulations of housing capital gains tax based on household data. National Assembly Budget Office (Republic of Korea).

Conference Presentations

Ahn, J., Choi, H., Kim, S., McJeon, H., & Eom, J. (2026, August 27). Continued growth of AI could drive data center electricity demand to 14–144% of 2025 global clean generation by 2050. KEEA 2026 Annual Conference, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation by Choi, H.; special session on net-zero energy infrastructure and AI data centers.

Choi, H. (2026, June 22). Transition or contraction? Competitiveness erosion, trade measures, and sectoral roadmaps in Korea’s heavy industry. Korean Association for Public Administration Summer Joint Conference and International Conference, Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Center (BPEX), Busan, Korea. Oral presentation (in Korean); early-career researchers’ doctoral dissertation session.

Choi, H. (2026, June 19). The impact of manufacturing competitiveness erosion and trade regulation on Korea’s 2035 NDC pathway and beyond. 29th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis (GTAP), Kyoto, Japan. Oral presentation; session on national net-zero pathways, comparative strategies, and macroeconomic trade-offs.

Choi, H. (2026, April 25). Recent advances in difference-in-differences (DID) methods and their potential applications in public administration and policy research. Seoul Association for Public Administration Methodology Research Group Special Session, online. Oral presentation (in Korean).

Choi, H. (2026, February 9). Analyzing the effects of declining manufacturing competitiveness and trade regulations on achieving national greenhouse gas reduction targets. Seoul Association for Public Administration Winter Conference, Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation (in Korean); industrial policy and technological innovation session.

Choi, H., Park, S., & McJeon, H. (2025). High-ambition climate action for 60% GHG reduction in Korea. Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Oral presentation; attended online, presented by Zhao, A.

Choi, H., Park, S., & McJeon, H. (2025). High-ambition climate action for 60% GHG reduction in Korea. Public Management Research Conference (PMRC), Seoul, Korea. Poster presentation.

Choi, H., McJeon, H., & Park, S. (2025). Integrated assessment of the 11th basic plan for long-term electricity supply and demand and alternative scenarios. Korean Society of Climate Change Research (KSCCR), Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation (in Korean).

Choi, H., McJeon, H., & Park, S. (2024). Integrated assessment of the 11th basic plan for long-term electricity supply and demand and alternative scenarios. Korean Association for Public Administration (KAPA), Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation (in Korean).

Choi, H. (2022). Assessing the effectiveness of tunneling regulations: Evidence based on ultimate cash-flow rights. Korean Association for Public Administration (KAPA), Yeosu, Korea. Oral presentation (in Korean).

Choi, H. (2022). Responses of controlling shareholders to Article 23-2 of the Fair Trade Act: Empirical tests on avoidance hypotheses. SNU GSPA–Rutgers SPAA International Conference, Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation.

Choi, H., & Park, S. (2022). How did Korean business group affiliates respond to tunneling regulations? Evidence from a quasi-experimental approach. Korean Association for Public Administration (KAPA), Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation (in Korean).

Choi, H., Kim, J., & Park, S. (2022). On simulations of housing capital gains tax based on household data. Korean Association for Public Administration (KAPA), Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation.

Choi, H., & Kim, J. (2021). Effects of tax policy changes on housing market transactions: Focusing on the comprehensive real estate tax and capital gains tax. Korean Association for Public Administration (KAPA), Seoul, Korea. Oral presentation.

Choi, H. (2021). Government subsidies to occupational pension funds of small-and-medium-sized enterprise employees and their consequences on old-age incomes of these employees in Korea. BK Research Group National Conference — Local Autonomy and Decentralization in the Post-Pandemic Era, Busan, Korea. Oral presentation.

Experience

Postdoctoral Researcher, KAIST IAM Group 2026

Doctoral Research Assistant, Research Center for Market and Government 2021–2026

Lecturer, Extension College, Seoul National University 2018–2025

Social Service Personnel (Military service alternative), Seoul National University 2019–2021

Master Research Assistant, Research Center for Market and Government 2016–2019

Awards & Fellowships

Scholarship for Next Generation Scholars, National Research Foundation of Korea 2024–2025

BK Outstanding Research Talent Fellowship, BK21 Four Education Research Group 2021–2022

BK21 FOUR Research Fellowship, Global Convergence & Innovation Talent for Inclusive Governance 2022–2024

Teaching

Econometric Analysis 3 (Doctoral Required), TA for Prof. Sangin Park Fall 2023–2025

Introduction to Computing, TA for Prof. Sang Ah Lee Fall 2022

Core Computing, TA for Prof. Haesun Byun Spring 2022

Economic Analysis (Master's Required), TA for Prof. Sangin Park Fall 2021

Skills

Skills: Python, R, STATA, Git, Linux/Unix

Modeling: Econometrics (Advanced), GCAM (Advanced), DICE/RICE (Intermediate), Machine Learning (Intermediate), PyPSA (Intermediate)

Languages: Korean (Native), English (Advanced)

Peer Review

Nature Reviews Clean Technology
Scientific Reports
Energy and Climate Change