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Electricity supply preferences in Europe: Evidence from subjective well-being data

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  • Welsch, Heinz
  • Biermann, Philipp

Abstract

We use survey data for 139,517 individuals in 25 European countries, 2002–2011, to estimate the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and production shares of various electricity generation technologies. The estimated relationships are taken to represent preference relationships over attributes of electricity supply systems (costs, safety, environmental friendliness, etc.). Controlling for a variety of individual and macro-level factors, we find that individuals’ SWB varies systematically and significantly with differences in the electricity mix across countries and across time. Among other results, we find that a greater share of solar & wind power relative to nuclear power and electricity from coal and oil is associated with greater SWB at all levels of income and that the implied preference for solar & wind power over nuclear power has risen drastically after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

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  • Welsch, Heinz & Biermann, Philipp, 2014. "Electricity supply preferences in Europe: Evidence from subjective well-being data," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 38-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:38-60
    DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2014.05.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Heinz Welsch & Philipp Biermann, 2014. "Energy Prices, Energy Poverty, and Well-Being: Evidence for European Countries," Working Papers V-369-14, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2014.
    2. Li, Yunwei & Ning, Xiao & Wang, Zijie & Cheng, Jingyu & Li, Fumeng & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Would energy poverty affect the wellbeing of senior citizens? Evidence from China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    3. Eleftherios Giovanis, 2019. "Worthy to lose some money for better air quality: applications of Bayesian networks on the causal effect of income and air pollution on life satisfaction in Switzerland," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 1579-1611, November.
    4. Nie, Peng & Li, Qiaoge & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2021. "Energy poverty and subjective well-being in China: New evidence from the China Family Panel Studies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Aldieri, Luigi & Bruno, Bruna & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2019. "Does environmental innovation make us happy? An empirical investigation," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 166-172.
    6. Welsch, Heinz & Biermann, Philipp, 2014. "Fukushima and the preference for nuclear power in Europe: Evidence from subjective well-being data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 171-179.
    7. Liu, Shen & Colson, Gregory & Hao, Na & Wetzstein, Michael, 2018. "Toward an optimal household solar subsidy: A social-technical approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 377-387.
    8. Sebastian Strunz, Erik Gawel, and Paul Lehmann, 2015. "Towards a general Europeanization of EU Member States energy policies?," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    9. Charlotte von Möllendorff & Heinz Welsch, 2017. "Measuring Renewable Energy Externalities: Evidence from Subjective Well-being Data," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 93(1), pages 109-126.
    10. Heinz Welsch & Philipp Biermann, 2017. "Energy Affordability and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence for European Countries," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    11. Omri, Anis & Omri, Henda & Slimani, Sana & Belaid, Fateh, 2022. "Environmental degradation and life satisfaction: Do governance and renewable energy matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    12. Jones, Benjamin A., 2018. "Measuring externalities of energy efficiency investments using subjective well-being data: The case of LED streetlights," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 18-32.
    13. Welsch, Heinz & Ferreira, Susana, 2014. "Environment, Well-Being, and Experienced Preference," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 7(3-4), pages 205-239, December.
    14. de Frutos Cachorro, J. & Willeghems, G. & Buysse, J., 2019. "Strategic investment decisions under the nuclear power debate in Belgium," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 156-184.
    15. Gawel, Erik & Strunz, Sebastian & Lehmann, Paul, 2014. "Wie viel Europa braucht die Energiewende?," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2014, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    16. Zerrahn, Alexander, 2017. "Wind Power and Externalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 245-260.
    17. Welsch, Heinz & Biermann, Philipp, 2016. "Measuring nuclear power plant externalities using life satisfaction data: A spatial analysis for Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 98-111.
    18. Fernandez, Cheryl Joy & Raitzer, David & Ginting , Edimon, 2019. "Potential Use of the Life Satisfaction Approach to Value Nonmarket Goods and Services," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 569, Asian Development Bank.
    19. Dongyoung Kim & Young‐I1 Albert Kim, 2018. "Mental health cost of terrorism: Study of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1-14, January.
    20. Heinz Welsch, 2024. "Do National Well-Being Scores Capture Nations’ Ecological Resilience? Evidence for 124 Countries," Working Papers V-443-24, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2024.
    21. Welsch, Heinz, 2016. "Electricity Externalities, Siting, and the Energy Mix: A Survey," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 10(1), pages 57-94, November.
    22. Huh, Sung-Yoon & Woo, JongRoul & Lim, Sesil & Lee, Yong-Gil & Kim, Chang Seob, 2015. "What do customers want from improved residential electricity services? Evidence from a choice experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 410-420.
    23. Byun, Hyunsuk & Lee, Chul-Yong, 2017. "Analyzing Korean consumers’ latent preferences for electricity generation sources with a hierarchical Bayesian logit model in a discrete choice experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 294-302.
    24. Sung-Yoon Huh & Chul-Yong Lee, 2017. "A Demand-Side Perspective on Developing a Future Electricity Generation Mix: Identifying Heterogeneity in Social Preferences," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electricity mix; Preference; Energy transition; Fukushima; Subjective well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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