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The effect of electricity taxation on the German manufacturing sector: A regression discontinuity approach

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  • Flues, Florens
  • Lutz, Benjamin Johannes

Abstract

Germany taxes electricity use since 1999. The government granted reduced rates to energy intensive firms in the industrial sector for addressing potentially adverse effects on firms' competitiveness. Firms that use more electricity than certain thresholds established by legislation, pay reduced marginal tax rates. As a consequence, the marginal tax rate is a deterministic and discontinuous function of electricity use. We identify and estimate the causal effects of these reduced marginal tax rates on the economic performance of firms using a regression discontinuity design. Our econometric analysis relies on official micro-data at the plant and firm level collected by the German Federal Statistical Office that cover the whole manufacturing sector. We do not find any systematic, statistically significant effects of the electricity tax on firms' turnover, exports, value added, investment and employment. The results suggest that eliminating the reduced marginal electricity tax rates could increase revenues for the government without adversely affecting firms' economic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Flues, Florens & Lutz, Benjamin Johannes, 2015. "The effect of electricity taxation on the German manufacturing sector: A regression discontinuity approach," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-013, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:15013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rammer, Christian & Gottschalk, Sandra & Peneder, Michael & Wörter, Martin & Stucki, Tobias & Arvanitis, Spyros, 2017. "Does energy policy hurt international competitiveness of firms? A comparative study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 154-180.
    2. von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Rottner, Elisa, 2022. "Do manufacturing plants respond to exogenous changes in electricity prices? Evidence from administrative micro-data," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-038, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Rottner, Elisa & von Graevenitz, Kathrine, 2022. "What drives carbon emissions in German manufacturing: Scale, technique or composition?," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-027, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, revised 2022.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Efficiency of Environmental Taxes; Control of Externalities; Regression Discontinuity Design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • 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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