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Vehicle miles (not) traveled: Fuel economy requirements, vehicle characteristics, and household driving

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  • West, Jeremy
  • Hoekstra, Mark
  • Meer, Jonathan
  • Puller, Steven L

Abstract

A major concern with addressing the negative externalities of gasoline consumption by regulating fuel economy, rather than increasing fuel taxes, is that households respond by driving more. This paper exploits a discrete threshold in the eligibility for Cash for Clunkers to show that fuel economy restrictions lead households to purchase vehicles that have lower cost-per-mile, but are also smaller and lower-performance. Whereas the former effect can increase driving, the latter effect can reduce it. Results indicate that these households do not drive more, suggesting that behavioral responses do not necessarily undermine the effectiveness of fuel economy restrictions at reducing gasoline consumption.
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  • West, Jeremy & Hoekstra, Mark & Meer, Jonathan & Puller, Steven L, 2017. "Vehicle miles (not) traveled: Fuel economy requirements, vehicle characteristics, and household driving," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7bt7h69f, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt7bt7h69f
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    Cited by:

    1. Xing, Jianwei & Leard, Benjamin & Li, Shanjun, 2021. "What does an electric vehicle replace?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Sheldon, Tamara L. & Dua, Rubal, 2018. "Gasoline savings from clean vehicle adoption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 418-424.
    3. Mark Hoekstra & Steven L. Puller & Jeremy West, 2017. "Cash for Corollas: When Stimulus Reduces Spending," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 1-35, July.
    4. Fullerton, Don & Ta, Chi L., 2020. "Costs of energy efficiency mandates can reverse the sign of rebound," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    5. Antonio M. Bento & Mark R. Jacobsen & Christopher R. Knittel & Arthur A. van Benthem, 2020. "Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Fuel-Economy Standards," Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 129-157.
    6. Donna, Javier D., 2018. "Measuring Long-Run Price Elasticities in Urban Travel Demand," MPRA Paper 90059, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Lynn Riggs, 2022. "Carbon Policy Design and Distributional Impacts: What does the research tell us?," Working Papers 22_08, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    8. Patrick Bigler & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2022. "Environmental, Redistributive and Revenue Effects of Policies Promoting Fuel Efficient and Electric Vehicles," CESifo Working Paper Series 9645, CESifo.
    9. Dou, Xiaoya & Linn, Joshua, 2020. "How do US passenger vehicle fuel economy standards affect new vehicle purchases?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Marz, Waldemar & Goetzke, Frank, 2022. "CAFE in the city — A spatial analysis of fuel economy standards," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Matsushima, Hiroshi & Khanna, Madhu, 2022. "Estimating Medium-run Direct Rebound Effects of the Footprint-based CAFE Standard," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322420, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Yoo, Sunbin & Koh, Kyung Woong & Yoshida, Yoshikuni & Wakamori, Naoki, 2019. "Revisiting Jevons's paradox of energy rebound: Policy implications and empirical evidence in consumer-oriented financial incentives from the Japanese automobile market, 2006–2016," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    13. James Archsmith & Kenneth T. Gillingham & Christopher R. Knittel & David S. Rapson, 2020. "Attribute substitution in household vehicle portfolios," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(4), pages 1162-1196, December.
    14. Jianwei Xing & Benjamin Leard & Shanjun Li, 2019. "What Does an Electric Vehicle Replace?," NBER Working Papers 25771, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Yoo, Sunbin & Koh, Kyung Woong & Yoshida, Yoshikuni, 2020. "Are consumers abandoning diesel automobiles because of contrasting diesel policies? Evidence from the Korean automobile market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Li, Yi & Wang, Zhaohua & Wang, Ke & Zhang, Bin, 2021. "Fuel economy of Chinese light-duty car manufacturers: An efficiency analysis perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    17. Sheldon, Tamara L. & Dua, Rubal, 2019. "Assessing the effectiveness of California's “Replace Your Ride”," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 318-323.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economics; Applied Economics; Economic Theory; Econometrics; Applied economics; Economic theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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