IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_10828.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Macroeconomics of Clean Energy Subsidies

Author

Listed:
  • Gregory Casey
  • Woongchan Jeon
  • Christian Traeger
  • Gregory P. Casey
  • Christian P. Traeger

Abstract

We study clean energy subsidies in a quantitative climate-economy model. Clean en-ergy subsidies decrease carbon emissions if and only if they lower the marginal product of dirty energy. The constrained-efficient subsidy equals the marginal external cost of dirty energy multiplied by the marginal impact of clean energy production on dirty energy production. With standard functional forms, two factors determine the impact of clean subsidies on dirty energy production: the elasticity of substitution between clean and dirty energy and the price elasticity of demand for energy services. At standard parameter values, clean production subsidies increase emissions and decrease welfare relative to laissez faire. With greater substitutability between clean and dirty energy, the subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act can generate modest emissions reductions. Even in this more optimistic scenario, a clean subsidy generates significantly higher emissions and lower welfare than a tax on dirty energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregory Casey & Woongchan Jeon & Christian Traeger & Gregory P. Casey & Christian P. Traeger, 2023. "The Macroeconomics of Clean Energy Subsidies," CESifo Working Paper Series 10828, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10828
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp10828.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chris Papageorgiou & Marianne Saam & Patrick Schulte, 2017. "Substitution between Clean and Dirty Energy Inputs: A Macroeconomic Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(2), pages 281-290, May.
    2. Nordhaus, William D, 1993. "Optimal Greenhouse-Gas Reductions and Tax Policy in the "Dice" Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 313-317, May.
    3. Lint Barrage, 2020. "Optimal Dynamic Carbon Taxes in a Climate–Economy Model with Distortionary Fiscal Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 1-39.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Anton Nakov & Carlos Thomas, 2023. "Climate-conscious monetary policy," Working Papers 2334, Banco de España.
    2. Stefano Carattini & Garth Heutel & Givi Melkadze, 2023. "Climate Policy, Financial Frictions, and Transition Risk," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 778-794, December.
    3. Barbara Annicchiarico & Stefano Carattini & Carolyn Fischer & Garth Heutel, 2022. "Business Cycles and Environmental Policy: A Primer," Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 221-253.
    4. Casey, Gregory, "undated". "Energy Efficiency and Directed Technical Change: Implications for Climate Change Mitigation," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259959, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. George, Ammu & Huang, Jingong & Xie, Taojun, 2022. "Assessing the dual mandates of sustainability-linked monetary policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Hinterlang, Natascha & Martin, Anika & Röhe, Oke & Stähler, Nikolai & Strobel, Johannes, 2022. "Using energy and emissions taxation to finance labor tax reductions in a multi-sector economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    7. Stefano Carattini & Garth Heutel & Givi Melkadze, 2023. "Climate Policy, Financial Frictions, and Transition Risk," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 778-794, December.
    8. Hillebrand, Elmar & Hillebrand, Marten, 2023. "Who pays the bill? Climate change, taxes, and transfers in a multi-region growth model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    9. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2014. "What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 740-798, September.
    10. Coenen, Günter & Lozej, Matija & Priftis, Romanos, 2023. "Macroeconomic Effects of Carbon Transition Policies: An Assessment Based on the ECB’s New Area-Wide Model with a Disaggregated Energy Sector," Research Technical Papers 8/RT/23, Central Bank of Ireland.
    11. Martinsson, Gustav & Sajtos, László & Strömberg, Per & Thomann, Christian, 2022. "Carbon Pricing and Firm-Level CO2 Abatement: Evidence from a Quarter of a Century-Long Panel," Misum Working Paper Series 2022-10, Stockholm School of Economics, Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum).
    12. Patrick Criqui & Denise Cavard, 2004. "Economic approach to climate policies and stakes of international negotiations," Post-Print halshs-00003793, HAL.
    13. Abiry, Raphael & Ferdinandusse, Marien & Ludwig, Alexander & Nerlich, Carolin, 2022. "Climate change mitigation: How effective is green quantitative easing?," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-027, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Gregory Casey & Stephie Fried & Ethan Goode, 2023. "Projecting the Impact of Rising Temperatures: The Role of Macroeconomic Dynamics," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(3), pages 688-718, September.
    15. Reyer Gerlagh & Veronica Lupi & Marzio Galeotti, 2023. "Fertility and climate change," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(1), pages 208-252, January.
    16. Malikov, Emir & Sun, Kai & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2018. "Nonparametric estimates of the clean and dirty energy substitutability," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 118-122.
    17. Adrian Amelung, 2016. "Das "Paris-Agreement": Durchbruch der Top-Down-Klimaschutzverhandlungen im Kreise der Vereinten Nationen," Otto-Wolff-Institut Discussion Paper Series 03/2016, Otto-Wolff-Institut für Wirtschaftsordnung, Köln, Deutschland.
    18. Torres-Brito, David Israel & Cruz-Aké, Salvador & Venegas-Martínez, Francisco, 2023. "Impacto de los contaminantes por gases de efecto invernadero en el crecimiento económico en 86 países (1990-2019): Sobre la curva inversa de Kuznets [Impact of the Effect of Greenhouse Gas Pollutan," MPRA Paper 119031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Josep Ferret Mas & Alexander Mihailov, 2021. "Green Quantitative Easing as Intergenerational Climate Justice: On Political Theory and Pareto Efficiency in Reversing Now Human-Caused Environmental Damage," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2021-16, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    20. Leonidas Milios, 2021. "Towards a Circular Economy Taxation Framework: Expectations and Challenges of Implementation," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate change mitigation; second-best policies; economic growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ces:ceswps:_10828. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.