IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v94y2021ics014098832030428x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The economic impacts of China's differential electricity pricing policy: Evidence from energy-intensive firms in Hunan Province

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Mian
  • Yuan, Yining
  • Sun, Chuanwang

Abstract

Differential Electricity Pricing (DEP), an energy-saving policy promulgated by China's central government for energy-intensive industries, has made great achievement in energy conservation and emission reduction. We investigate the economic effects of DEP policy using the Difference-in-Differences approach and Discrete-Time Hazard model. Based on the micro data of manufacturing firms in Hunan Province, our research found that the DEP policy has led to a decline in their output, revenue and profits. Further research found that the DEP policy has led to a decrease in employment, but hardly affected fixed assets and the probability of exiting the market. After adopting DEP policy, firms accelerate equipment upgrades but create more excess production capacity. We provide reference for a comprehensive evaluation of DEP policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Mian & Yuan, Yining & Sun, Chuanwang, 2021. "The economic impacts of China's differential electricity pricing policy: Evidence from energy-intensive firms in Hunan Province," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:94:y:2021:i:c:s014098832030428x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105088
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014098832030428X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105088?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    2. Wang, Xu & Zhang, Xiao-Bing & Zhu, Lei, 2019. "Imperfect market, emissions trading scheme, and technology adoption: A case study of an energy-intensive sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 142-158.
    3. Lei Zhu, Xu Wang, and Dayong Zhang, 2020. "Identifying Strategic Traders in China's Pilot Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 123-142.
    4. Yang, Mian & Yang, Fuxia & Sun, Chuanwang, 2018. "Factor market distortion correction, resource reallocation and potential productivity gains: An empirical study on China's heavy industry sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 270-279.
    5. Lutz Kilian, 2008. "The Economic Effects of Energy Price Shocks," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(4), pages 871-909, December.
    6. Finn, Mary G, 2000. "Perfect Competition and the Effects of Energy Price Increases on Economic Activity," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 32(3), pages 400-416, August.
    7. Ratti, Ronald A. & Seol, Youn & Yoon, Kyung Hwan, 2011. "Relative energy price and investment by European firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 721-731, September.
    8. Mark B. Stewart, 2004. "The Impact of the Introduction of the U.K. Minimum Wage on the Employment Probabilities of Low-Wage Workers," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(1), pages 67-97, March.
    9. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Kokkelenberg, Edward C, 1989. "Measuring Plant Capacity, Utilization and Technical Change: A Nonparametric Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(3), pages 655-666, August.
    10. Ama Baafra Abeberese, 2017. "Electricity Cost and Firm Performance: Evidence from India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(5), pages 839-852, December.
    11. Petra Moser & Alessandra Voena, 2012. "Compulsory Licensing: Evidence from the Trading with the Enemy Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 396-427, February.
    12. Yoon, Kyung Hwan & Ratti, Ronald A., 2011. "Energy price uncertainty, energy intensity and firm investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 67-78, January.
    13. Audretsch, David B. & Santarelli, Enrico & Vivarelli, Marco, 1999. "Start-up size and industrial dynamics: some evidence from Italian manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 965-983, October.
    14. Elliott, Robert & Sun, Puyang & Zhu, Tong, 2019. "Electricity prices and industry switching: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 567-588.
    15. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2007. "The Effect of R&D Subsidies on Private R&D," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(294), pages 215-234, May.
    16. Hu, Junfeng & Kahrl, Fredrich & Yan, Qingyou & Wang, Xiaoya, 2012. "The impact of China's differential electricity pricing policy on power sector CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 412-419.
    17. Alberto Abadie & David Drukker & Jane Leber Herr & Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Implementing matching estimators for average treatment effects in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 290-311, September.
    18. Sikandar Siddiqui, 1997. "The impact of health on retirement behaviour: empirical evidence from West Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(4), pages 425-438, July.
    19. Yang, Mian & Hou, Yaru & Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong, 2020. "Assessment and optimization of provincial CO2 emission reduction scheme in China: An improved ZSG-DEA approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Berndt, Ernst R & Morrison, Catherine J, 1981. "Capacity Utilization Measures: Underlying Economic Theory and an Alternative Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 48-52, May.
    21. Shi, Wenming & Wang, Ganggang & Zhao, Xu & Feng, Xuehao & Wu, Jun, 2018. "Price determination in the electrolytic aluminum industry: The role of electricity prices," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 274-281.
    22. Sadath, Anver C. & Acharya, Rajesh H., 2015. "Effects of energy price rise on investment: Firm level evidence from Indian manufacturing sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 516-522.
    23. John Baldwin & Beiling Yan, 2011. "The death of Canadian manufacturing plants: heterogeneous responses to changes in tariffs and real exchange rates," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(1), pages 131-167, April.
    24. Lin, Boqiang & Liu, Jianghua, 2011. "Principles, effects and problems of differential power pricing policy for energy intensive industries in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 111-118.
    25. Pindyck, Robert S & Rotemberg, Julio J, 1983. "Dynamic Factor Demands and the Effects of Energy Price Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1066-1079, December.
    26. Heckman, James J. & Robb, Richard Jr., 1985. "Alternative methods for evaluating the impact of interventions : An overview," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 239-267.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mo, Jianlei & Cui, Lianbiao & Duan, Hongbo, 2021. "Quantifying the implied risk for newly-built coal plant to become stranded asset by carbon pricing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Yu, Zhen & Xiao, Yao & Li, Jinpo, 2021. "How does geopolitical uncertainty affect Chinese overseas investment in the energy sector? Evidence from the South China Sea Dispute," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    3. Tsao, Yu-Chung & Beyene, Tsehaye Dedimas & Thanh, Vo-Van & Gebeyehu, Sisay Geremew & Kuo, Tsai-Chi, 2022. "Power distribution network design considering the distributed generations and differential and dynamic pricing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    4. Mian Yang & Yining Yuan & Fuxia Yang & Dalia Patino-Echeverri, 2021. "Effects of environmental regulation on firm entry and exit and China’s industrial productivity: a new perspective on the Porter Hypothesis," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(4), pages 915-944, October.
    5. Lin, Boqiang & Xu, Bin, 2021. "A non-parametric analysis of the driving factors of China's carbon prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    6. Wang, Li & Zhang, Xin-Hua & Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2023. "Designing the pricing mechanism of residents’ self-selection sales electricity based on household size," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 860-878.
    7. Sun, Chuanwang & Zhan, Yanhong & Peng, Yiqi & Cai, Weiyi, 2022. "Crude oil price and exchange rate: Evidence from the period before and after the launch of China's crude oil futures," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    8. Sun, Chuanwang & Yi, Xiangyu & Ma, Tiemeng & Cai, Weiyi & Wang, Wei, 2022. "Evaluating the optimal air pollution reduction rate: Evidence from the transmission mechanism of air pollution effects on public subjective well-being," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Xie, Minghua & Min, Jialin & Fang, Xingming & Sun, Chuanwang & Zhang, Zhen, 2022. "Policy selection based on China's natural gas security evaluation and comparison," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    10. Xie, Minghua & Wei, Xiaonan & Chen, Chuanglian & Sun, Chuanwang, 2022. "China's natural gas production peak and energy return on investment (EROI): From the perspective of energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    11. Qu, Jianying & Li, Ke & Ye, Ze & Shao, Shuai, 2022. "The impact of differential power pricing policy on firm productivity in China: Evidence from iron and steel firms," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Tran, Vuong Thao & Nguyen, Dat Thanh, 2019. "Crude oil price uncertainty and corporate investment: New global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 54-65.
    2. Sadath, Anver C. & Acharya, Rajesh H., 2015. "Effects of energy price rise on investment: Firm level evidence from Indian manufacturing sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 516-522.
    3. Qu, Jianying & Li, Ke & Ye, Ze & Shao, Shuai, 2022. "The impact of differential power pricing policy on firm productivity in China: Evidence from iron and steel firms," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Gregor Singer, 2024. "Complementary Inputs and Industrial Development: Can Lower Electricity Prices Improve Energy Efficiency?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10944, CESifo.
    5. Alaali, Fatema, 2020. "The effect of oil and stock price volatility on firm level investment: The case of UK firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Nie, Pu-yan & Yang, Yong-cong, 2016. "Effects of energy price fluctuations on industries with energy inputs: An application to China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 329-334.
    7. Le Tang, 2020. "Energy prices and investment in energy efficiency: evidence from Chinese industry 1997–2004," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 34(2), pages 93-105, November.
    8. Maghyereh, Aktham & Abdoh, Hussein, 2020. "Asymmetric effects of oil price uncertainty on corporate investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. H. Rajesh Acharya & C. Anver Sadath, 2016. "Energy Price Uncertainty and Investment: Firm Level Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Sector," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 6(3), pages 364-373.
    10. Chang, Kai & Zeng, Yonghong & Wang, Weihong & Wu, Xin, 2019. "The effects of credit policy and financial constraints on tangible and research & development investment: Firm-level evidence from China's renewable energy industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 438-447.
    11. Gamtessa, Samuel & Olani, Adugna Berhanu, 2018. "Energy price, energy efficiency, and capital productivity: Empirical investigations and policy implications," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 650-666.
    12. Chang, Kai & Wan, Qiong & Lou, Qichun & Chen, Yili & Wang, Weihong, 2020. "Green fiscal policy and firms’ investment efficiency: New insights into firm-level panel data from the renewable energy industry in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 589-597.
    13. Xinheng Liu & Shuxian Li & Chengbo Fu & Xu Gong & Chen Fan, 2024. "The oil price plummeted in 2014–2015: Is there an effect on Chinese firms' labour investment?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 943-960, January.
    14. Ronald A. Ratti & M. Zahid Hasan, 2013. "Oil Price Shocks and Volatility in Australian Stock Returns," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89, pages 67-83, June.
    15. Valadkhani, Abbas & Smyth, Russell, 2017. "How do daily changes in oil prices affect US monthly industrial output?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 83-90.
    16. Ratti, Ronald A. & Hasan, M. Zahid, 2013. "Oil Price Shocks and Volatility in Australian Stock Returns ‎," MPRA Paper 49043, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Chen, Zhenling & Zhang, Xiaoling & Ni, Guohua, 2020. "Decomposing capacity utilization under carbon dioxide emissions reduction constraints in data envelopment analysis: An application to Chinese regions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Catherine J. Morrison, 1990. "Market Power, Economic Profitability and Productivity Growth Measurement: An Integrated Structural Approach," NBER Working Papers 3355, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Fan, Xiaomin & Xu, Yingzhi, 2023. "Does high-speed railway promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    20. Yazid Dissou & Lilia Karnizova & Qian Sun, 2015. "Industry-level Econometric Estimates of Energy-Capital-Labor Substitution with a Nested CES Production Function," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 43(1), pages 107-121, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:94:y:2021:i:c:s014098832030428x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.