IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v27y2009i4p523-537.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economics Of Gasohol

Author

Listed:
  • FREDERIC L. PRYOR

Abstract

Gasohol has received considerable governmental financial support because it is alleged to have important ecological and economic advantages. It is, for instance, supposed to reduce our extraction of nonrenewable energy, to have a cost advantage over gasoline, and to reduce pollution. This essay presents evidence that the amount of nonrenewable energy used in producing the corn ethanol is less than the amount of energy it provides as a fuel, that its price competitiveness with gasoline is doubtful, and that its environmental benefits are far from proven. In brief, current U.S. policies encouraging ethanol production to produce gasohol do not seem economically rational. (JEL Q100, Q400, D210, L780)

Suggested Citation

  • Frederic L. Pryor, 2009. "The Economics Of Gasohol," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(4), pages 523-537, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:27:y:2009:i:4:p:523-537
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00160.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00160.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00160.x?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wallace E. Tyner & Farzad Taheripour, 2008. "Policy Options for Integrated Energy and Agricultural Markets ," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(3), pages 387-396.
    2. Paul Gallagher & Donald Johnson, 1999. "Some New Ethanol Technology: Cost Competition and Adoption Effects in the Petroleum Market," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 89-120.
    3. Gallagher, Paul & Schamel, Guenter & Shapouri, Hosein & Brubaker, Heather, 2006. "The international competitiveness of the U.S. corn-ethanol industry: A comparison with sugar-ethanol processing in Brazil," ISU General Staff Papers 200601010800001441, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Rosegrant, Mark W. & Msangi, Siwa & Sulser, Timothy B. & Valmonte-Santos, Rowena, 2006. "Biofuels and the global food balance: bioenergy and agriculture promises and challenges," 2020 vision briefs 14(3), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Paul Gallagher & Guenter Schamel & Hosein Shapouri & Heather Brubaker, 2006. "The international competitiveness of the U.S. corn-ethanol industry: A comparison with sugar-ethanol processing in Brazil," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 109-134.
    6. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Gallagher, Paul & Johnson, Donald, 1999. "Some New Ethanol Technology: Cost Competition and Adoption Effects in the Petroleum Market," ISU General Staff Papers 199901010800001274, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. repec:fpr:2020br:14(3 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Mitchell, Donald, 2008. "A note on rising food prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4682, The World Bank.
    10. Gallagher, Paul W. & Johnson, Donald, 1999. "Some New Ethanol Technology: Cost Competition and Adoption Effects in the Petroleum Market," Staff General Research Papers Archive 5265, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    11. Eggert, Anthony, 2007. "Transportation Biofuels in the US A Preliminary Innovation Systems Analysis," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt9bn042nh, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    12. Eggert, Anthony, 2007. "Transportation Biofuels in the USA Preliminary Innovation Systems Analysis," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt5n51r9n8, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    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. Szulczyk, Kenneth R. & McCarl, Bruce A. & Cornforth, Gerald, 2010. "Market penetration of ethanol," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 394-403, January.
    2. Paul W. Gallagher, 2009. "Roles for evolving markets, policies, and technology improvements in U.S. corn ethanol industry development," Regional Economic Development, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Apr, pages 12-33.
    3. Uwe Schneider & Bruce McCarl, 2003. "Economic Potential of Biomass Based Fuels for Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(4), pages 291-312, April.
    4. Rendleman, C. Matthew & Shapouri, Hosein, 2007. "New Technologies in Ethanol Production," Agricultural Economic Reports 308483, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Junpyo Park & John Anderson & Eric Thompson, 2019. "Land-Use, Crop Choice, and Proximity to Ethanol Plants," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Thorsell, Sara & Epplin, Francis M. & Huhnke, Raymond L., 2003. "Economies Of Size Of A Coordinated Biorefinery Feedstock Harvest System," 2003 Annual Meeting, February 1-5, 2003, Mobile, Alabama 35059, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    7. Gallagher, Paul W. & Shapouri, Hosein, 2008. "Biomass Crop and Ethanol Supply from Agricultural Lands in the United States with Methodology, Estimation Results, and State-by-State Simulations," Agricultural Economic Reports 308485, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    8. Gallagher, Paul & Shapouri, Hosein & Brubaker, Heather, 2007. "Scale, Organization, and Profitability of Ethanol Processing," ISU General Staff Papers 200703010800001439, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Condon, Nicole & Klemick, Heather & Wolverton, Ann, 2015. "Impacts of ethanol policy on corn prices: A review and meta-analysis of recent evidence," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 63-73.
    10. Paul Gallagher & Mark Dikeman & John Fritz & Eric Wailes & Wayne Gauthier & Hosein Shapouri, 2003. "Supply and Social Cost Estimates for Biomass from Crop Residues in the United States," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(4), pages 335-358, April.
    11. Tembo, Gelson & Epplin, Francis M. & Huhnke, Raymond L., 2003. "Integrative Investment Appraisal of a Lignocellulosic Biomass-to-Ethanol Industry," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(3), pages 1-23, December.
    12. Gallagher, Paul W. & Shapouri, Hosein & Price, Jeffrey & Schamel, Guenter & Brubaker, Heather, 2003. "Some long-run effects of growing markets and renewable fuel standards on additives markets and the US ethanol industry," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(6-7), pages 585-608, September.
    13. Gallagher, Paul W. & Shapouri, Hosein & Price, Jeffrey & Schamel, Guenter & Brubaker, Heather, 2003. "Some long-run effects of growing markets and renewable fuel standards on additives markets and the US ethanol industry," ISU General Staff Papers 200309010700001445, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    14. Forsell, Nicklas & Guerassimoff, Gilles & Athanassiadis, Dimitris & Thivolle-Casat, Alain & Lorne, Daphné & Millet, Guy & Assoumou, Edi, 2013. "Sub-national TIMES model for analyzing future regional use of biomass and biofuels in Sweden and France," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 415-426.
    15. Gallagher, Paul W. & Dikeman, Mark & Fritz, John & Wailes, Eric & Gauthier, Wayne & Shapouri, Hosein, 2003. "Supply and Social Cost Estimates for Biomass from Crop Residues in the United States," ISU General Staff Papers 200304010800001493, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    16. Gallagher, Paul W., 2009. "Roles for Evolving Markets, Policies, and Technology Improvements in U.S. Corn Ethanol Industry Development," ISU General Staff Papers 200901010800001495, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    17. Mohamed Abdul Ghani, N. Muhammad Aslaam & Vogiatzis, Chrysafis & Szmerekovsky, Joseph, 2018. "Biomass feedstock supply chain network design with biomass conversion incentives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 39-49.
    18. Jacinto F. Fabiosa & John C. Beghin & Fengxia Dong & JAmani Elobeid & Simla Tokgoz & Tun-Hsiang Yu, 2010. "Land Allocation Effects of the Global Ethanol Surge: Predictions from the International FAPRI Model," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(4), pages 687-706.
    19. Mohajan, Haradhan, 2013. "Global food price hike is a burden to the poor," MPRA Paper 51822, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Nov 2013.
    20. Alison Burrell & Maria Blanco & Stephan Hubertus Gay & Martin Henseler & Aikaterini Kavallari & Robert M'barek & Ignacio Perez & Axel Tonini, 2010. "Impacts of the EU Biofuel Target on Agricultural Markets and Land Use - A Comparative Modelling Assessment," JRC Research Reports JRC58484, Joint Research Centre.

    More about this item

    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:bla:coecpo:v:27:y:2009:i:4:p:523-537. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.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.