Miguel’s interest in the topic began with a personal experience. After learning that a friend had registered as a resident in Mallorca to benefit from discounted flights to mainland Spain, he started questioning whether the policy was working as intended. What seemed like a useful public measure also revealed possible unintended consequences for prices and taxpayers.
At the EUI Department of Economics, Miguel explores how subsidy schemes shape airline pricing strategies and consumer behaviour. His research shows that airlines often absorb part of the subsidy by increasing ticket prices, and that replacing percentage-based discounts with fixed subsidies could significantly reduce government spending while encouraging consumers to buy cheaper tickets earlier.
His work also highlights how better-designed policies could make access to essential services more equitable, ensuring that lower-income citizens benefit the most. Beyond transport, Miguel believes these findings could help improve policies in sectors such as housing and electricity, both in Spain and in other countries facing similar challenges.
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Miguel Blanco Cocho is a PhD researcher at the EUI Department of Economics. His thesis, ‘Public Policy Design in Industries with Market Power and in Education’, is supervised by Professor Giacomo Calzolari and co-supervised by Professor Russel Cooper.