IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v139y2020ics0301421520300665.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When competition plays clean: How electricity market liberalization facilitated state-level climate policies in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Nathan R.

Abstract

Why do some governments adopt policies to mitigate climate change while others do not? In this study, I illustrate the importance of industrial organization in shaping prospects for climate mitigation policy. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, I show that U.S. states which adopt electricity market liberalization laws are subsequently fifteen to forty-three percentage points more likely to adopt a renewable portfolio standard and fifteen to thirty percentage points more likely to adopt a cap-and-trade program. I argue that the forced reduction in market share of incumbent utilities associated with market liberalization laws undermined the political dominance of legacy producers and facilitated the growth of independent power producers (IPPs). Following liberalization, I show how these firms disproportionately benefited from the development of renewable energy, and how their growth in market share corresponded with a rise in political activity, thus offering a countervailing industrial interest-group influence to legacy producers. These findings demonstrate the importance of industrial organization in shaping long-run prospects for climate mitigation. More generally, this study sheds light on how government interventions can shape industrial interest-group dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Nathan R., 2020. "When competition plays clean: How electricity market liberalization facilitated state-level climate policies in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:139:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520300665
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111308
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421520300665
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111308?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. Nesta, Lionel & Vona, Francesco & Nicolli, Francesco, 2014. "Environmental policies, competition and innovation in renewable energy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 396-411.
    2. Huang, Ming-Yuan & Alavalapati, Janaki R.R. & Carter, Douglas R. & Langholtz, Matthew H., 2007. "Is the choice of renewable portfolio standards random?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5571-5575, November.
    3. Nesta, Lionel & Vona, Francesco & Nicolli, Francesco, 2014. "Environmental policies, competition and innovation in renewable energy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 396-411.
    4. Bättig, Michèle B. & Bernauer, Thomas, 2009. "National Institutions and Global Public Goods: Are Democracies More Cooperative in Climate Change Policy?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 281-308, April.
    5. Ernesto Dal Bo´, 2006. "Regulatory Capture: A Review," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 203-225, Summer.
    6. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    7. Nicolli, Francesco & Vona, Francesco, 2019. "Energy market liberalization and renewable energy policies in OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 853-867.
    8. Palmer, Karen & Ando, Amy, 1998. "Getting on the Map: The Political Economy of State-Level Electricity Restructuring," RFF Working Paper Series dp-98-19-rev, Resources for the Future.
    9. Burtraw, Dallas & Palmer, Karen & Heintzelman, Martin, 2000. "Electricity Restructuring: Consequences and Opportunities for the Environment," RFF Working Paper Series dp-00-39, Resources for the Future.
    10. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1991. "The Politics of Government Decision-Making: A Theory of Regulatory Capture," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1089-1127.
    11. Thomas P. Lyon & Haitao Yin, 2010. "Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?: An Empirical Investigation," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 133-158.
    12. Lindsey, Brink & Teles, Steven, 2017. "The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Become Richer, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190627768.
    13. Bechtel, Michael M. & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2015. "All Policies Are Glocal: International Environmental Policy Making with Strategic Subnational Governments," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 559-582, July.
    14. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Protection for Sale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-850, September.
    15. Magali Delmas & Michael V. Russo & Maria J. Montes‐Sancho, 2007. "Deregulation and environmental differentiation in the electric utility industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 189-209, February.
    16. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    17. Doblinger, Claudia & Soppe, Birthe, 2013. "Change-actors in the U.S. electric energy system: The role of environmental groups in utility adoption and diffusion of wind power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 274-284.
    18. Andrew Cheon & Johannes Urpelainen, 2013. "How do Competing Interest Groups Influence Environmental Policy? The Case of Renewable Electricity in Industrialized Democracies, 1989–2007," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 61(4), pages 874-897, December.
    19. Paroma Sanyal & Suman Ghosh, 2013. "Product Market Competition and Upstream Innovation: Evidence from the U.S. Electricity Market Deregulation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 237-254, March.
    20. Michaël Aklin & Johannes Urpelainen, 2013. "Political Competition, Path Dependence, and the Strategy of Sustainable Energy Transitions," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 643-658, July.
    21. Carley, Sanya, 2011. "Historical analysis of U.S. electricity markets: Reassessing carbon lock-in," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 720-732, February.
    22. Unruh, Gregory C., 2000. "Understanding carbon lock-in," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 817-830, October.
    23. Borenstein, Severin & Bushnell, James, 2000. "Electricity Restructuring: Deregulation or Reregulation?," Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series qt22d2q3fn, Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    24. Sanya Carley, 2011. "The Era of State Energy Policy Innovation: A Review of Policy Instruments," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 28(3), pages 265-294, May.
    25. Jeff Colgan & Robert Keohane & Thijs Van de Graaf, 2012. "Punctuated equilibrium in the energy regime complex," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 117-143, June.
    26. Paul L. Joskow, 1997. "Restructuring, Competition and Regulatory Reform in the U.S. Electricity Sector," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 119-138, Summer.
    27. Hogan, William W, 2002. "Electricity Market Restructuring: Reforms of Reforms," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 103-132, January.
    28. Griffin, James M. & Puller, Steven L. (ed.), 2005. "Electricity Deregulation," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226308562, September.
    29. Sung Eun Kim & Joonseok Yang & Johannes Urpelainen, 2016. "Does Power Sector Deregulation Promote or Discourage Renewable Energy Policy? Evidence from the States, 1991–2012," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 33(1), pages 22-50, January.
    30. Bushnell, James, 2004. "California's electricity crisis: a market apart?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1045-1052, June.
    31. Steffen Jenner & Lotte Ovaere & Stephan Schindele, 2013. "The Impact of Private Interest Contributions on RPS Adoption," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 411-423, November.
    32. Leah C. Stokes & Christopher Warshaw, 2017. "Renewable energy policy design and framing influence public support in the United States," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 1-6, August.
    33. Wolak, Frank A., 2003. "Diagnosing the California Electricity Crisis," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 11-37.
    34. Delmas, Magali A. & Montes-Sancho, Maria J., 2011. "U.S. state policies for renewable energy: Context and effectiveness," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2273-2288, May.
    35. Austen-Smith, David, 1995. "Campaign Contributions and Access," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 566-581, September.
    36. Chandler, Jess, 2009. "Trendy solutions: Why do states adopt Sustainable Energy Portfolio Standards?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3274-3281, August.
    37. Crawford, Vincent P & Sobel, Joel, 1982. "Strategic Information Transmission," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1431-1451, November.
    38. David M. Konisky & Neal D. Woods, 2016. "Environmental Policy, Federalism, and the Obama Presidency," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 366-391.
    39. Werner Troesken, 2006. "Regime Change and Corruption. A History of Public Utility Regulation," NBER Chapters, in: Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History, pages 259-281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Nathan R. Lee & Dominik Stecula, 2021. "Subnational bipartisanship on climate change: evidence from surveys of local and state policymakers," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Humberto Verdejo-Fredes & Fernando García-Muñoz & Francisco Tobar & Cristhian Becker & Mauricio Olivares & Juan Zolezzi & Guillermo Guzmán, 2022. "Retail Electricity Market Liberalization: An Overview of International Experience and Effects on the Chilean Regulated Tariff," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, October.
    3. Zhao, Xueyuan & Gao, Weijun & Qian, Fanyue & Ge, Jian, 2021. "Electricity cost comparison of dynamic pricing model based on load forecasting in home energy management system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    4. Lee, Nathan & Stecula, Dominik, 2020. "Subnational Bipartisanship on Climate Change: Evidence from Surveys of Local and State Policymakers," OSF Preprints znr52, Center for Open Science.
    5. Lee, Sang Ho & Choi, Daewoung Joey & Han, Seung Hun, 2023. "Corporate cash holdings in response to climate risk and policies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    6. Eicke, Laima & Weko, Silvia, 2022. "Does green growth foster green policies? Value chain upgrading and feedback mechanisms on renewable energy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(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. Nicolli, Francesco & Vona, Francesco, 2019. "Energy market liberalization and renewable energy policies in OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 853-867.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p544jc8op is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Lee, Sang Ho & Choi, Daewoung Joey & Han, Seung Hun, 2023. "Corporate cash holdings in response to climate risk and policies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    4. Nathan R. Lee & Dominik Stecula, 2021. "Subnational bipartisanship on climate change: evidence from surveys of local and state policymakers," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 1-12, January.
    5. Don Fullerton & Chi L. Ta, 2022. "What Determines Effectiveness of Renewable Energy Standards? General Equilibrium Analytical Model and Empirical Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9565, CESifo.
    6. Lee, Nathan & Stecula, Dominik, 2020. "Subnational Bipartisanship on Climate Change: Evidence from Surveys of Local and State Policymakers," OSF Preprints znr52, Center for Open Science.
    7. Yi, Hongtao, 2015. "Clean-energy policies and electricity sector carbon emissions in the U.S. states," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 19-29.
    8. Marino, Marianna & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Valletta, Giacomo, 2019. "Electricity (de)regulation and innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 748-758.
    9. Jenner, Steffen & Groba, Felix & Indvik, Joe, 2013. "Assessing the strength and effectiveness of renewable electricity feed-in tariffs in European Union countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 385-401.
    10. Farah Roslan & Ștefan Cristian Gherghina & Jumadil Saputra & Mário Nuno Mata & Farah Diana Mohmad Zali & José Moleiro Martins, 2022. "A Panel Data Approach towards the Effectiveness of Energy Policies in Fostering the Implementation of Solar Photovoltaic Technology: Empirical Evidence for Asia-Pacific," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    11. Reuben E., 2002. "Interest groups and politics: The need to concentrate on group formation," Public Economics 0212001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Groll, Thomas & Ellis, Christopher J., 2014. "A simple model of the commercial lobbying industry," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 299-316.
    13. Côme Billard & Anna Creti & Antoine Mandel, 2020. "How Environmental Policies Spread? A Network Approach to Diffusion in the U.S," Working Papers 2020.12, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    14. Lazarus Adua & Brett Clark, 2021. "Politics and Corporate‐Sector Environmentally Significant Actions: The Effects of Political Partisanship on U.S. Utilities Energy Efficiency Policies," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(1), pages 31-48, January.
    15. Bae, Hyunhoe & Yu, Sanguk, 2018. "Information and coercive regulation: The impact of fuel mix information disclosure on states’ adoption of renewable energy policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 151-159.
    16. Mosk, Thomas, 2021. "Captured by financial institutions? New academic insights for EU policy makers," SAFE White Paper Series 77, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    17. Steffen Jenner & Lotte Ovaere & Stephan Schindele, 2013. "The Impact of Private Interest Contributions on RPS Adoption," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 411-423, November.
    18. Barry D. Solomon & Shan Zhou, 2021. "Renewable Portfolio Standards: Do Voluntary Goals vs. Mandatory Standards Make a Difference?," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(2), pages 146-163, March.
    19. Pritchard, Zachary D. & Mills, Sarah, 2021. "Renewable energy requirements on the ballot: An analysis of county-level voting results," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    20. Armstrong, John H., 2019. "Modeling effective local government climate policies that exceed state targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 15-26.
    21. Valdés Lucas, Javier Noel & Escribano Francés, Gonzalo & San Martín González, Enrique, 2016. "Energy security and renewable energy deployment in the EU: Liaisons Dangereuses or Virtuous Circle?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1032-1046.

    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:enepol:v:139:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520300665. 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/enpol .

    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.