IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v74y2014icp147-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of CAFE standards and alternative-fuel vehicle production credits in U.S. biofuels markets

Author

Listed:
  • Whistance, Jarrett
  • Thompson, Wyatt

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of CAFE standards and alternative-fuel vehicle production incentives on the biofuel market and mandate, in particular. The study develops a structural model of the domestic light-duty vehicle sector, as well as reduced-form versions of domestic gasoline, diesel, and biofuel markets. The results suggest that holding CAFE standards at the 2010 level could facilitate U.S. ethanol market expansion, making it easier to meet the mandate. Alternative-fuel vehicle production incentives appear to have small effects. However, there is uncertainty about the level of automaker response to those incentives, and analysis indicates the model is fairly sensitive to the assumed level of response.

Suggested Citation

  • Whistance, Jarrett & Thompson, Wyatt, 2014. "The role of CAFE standards and alternative-fuel vehicle production credits in U.S. biofuels markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 147-157.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:74:y:2014:i:c:p:147-157
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.09.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421514004959
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.09.004?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson, Soren T., 2012. "The demand for ethanol as a gasoline substitute," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 151-168.
    2. Soren T. Anderson & James M. Sallee, 2011. "Using Loopholes to Reveal the Marginal Cost of Regulation: The Case of Fuel-Economy Standards," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1375-1409, June.
    3. repec:bla:eurcho:v:8:y:2009:i:3:p:43-50 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Thompson, Wyatt & Whistance, Jarrett & Meyer, Seth, 2011. "Effects of US biofuel policies on US and world petroleum product markets with consequences for greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5509-5518, September.
    5. Kenneth A. Small & Kurt Van Dender, 2007. "Fuel Efficiency and Motor Vehicle Travel: The Declining Rebound Effect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 25-52.
    6. Du, Xiaodong & Hayes, Dermot J., 2009. "The impact of ethanol production on US and regional gasoline markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3227-3234, August.
    7. Paul R. Portney & Ian W.H. Parry & Howard K. Gruenspecht & Winston Harrington, 2003. "Policy Watch: The Economics of Fuel Economy Standards," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 203-217, Fall.
    8. Wyatt Thompson & Seth Meyer & Pat Westhoff, 2010. "The New Markets for Renewable Identification Numbers," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 588-603.
    9. Wyatt Thompson & Seth Meyer & Pat Westhoff, 2010. "The New Markets for Renewable Identification Numbers," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 588-603.
    10. Portney, Paul R. & Parry, Ian W.H. & Gruenspecht, Howard K. & Harrington, Winston, 2003. "The Economics of Fuel Economy Standards," Discussion Papers 10863, Resources for the Future.
    11. Shiau, Ching-Shin Norman & Michalek, Jeremy J. & Hendrickson, Chris T., 2009. "A structural analysis of vehicle design responses to Corporate Average Fuel Economy policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(9-10), pages 814-828, November.
    12. Carolyn Fischer & Winston Harrington & Ian W.H. Parry, 2007. "Should Automobile Fuel Economy Standards be Tightened?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 1-30.
    13. Small, Kenneth A., 2012. "Energy policies for passenger motor vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 874-889.
    14. Turrentine, Thomas S. & Kurani, Kenneth S., 2007. "Car buyers and fuel economy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1213-1223, February.
    15. Liu, Yimin & Helfand, Gloria E., 2009. "The Alternative Motor Fuels Act, alternative-fuel vehicles, and greenhouse gas emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 755-764, October.
    16. Jarrett Whistance & Wyatt W. Thompson & Seth D. Meyer, 2010. "Ethanol Policy Effects on U.S. Natural Gas Prices and Quantities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 178-182, May.
    17. Austin, David & Dinan, Terry, 2005. "Clearing the air: The costs and consequences of higher CAFE standards and increased gasoline taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 562-582, November.
    18. Hymel, Kent M. & Small, Kenneth A. & Dender, Kurt Van, 2010. "Induced demand and rebound effects in road transport," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1220-1241, December.
    19. Liu, Yimin & Helfand, Gloria E., 2012. "A hedonic test of the effects of the Alternative Motor Fuels Act," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1707-1715.
    20. Westbrook, Jessica & Barter, Garrett E. & Manley, Dawn K. & West, Todd H., 2014. "A parametric analysis of future ethanol use in the light-duty transportation sector: Can the US meet its Renewable Fuel Standard goals without an enforcement mechanism?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 419-431.
    21. repec:cdl:itsdav:qt56x845v4 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, 1998. "The Effects of the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards in the US," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 1-33, March.
    23. Ian W. H. Parry & Margaret Walls & Winston Harrington, 2007. "Automobile Externalities and Policies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 373-399, June.
    24. Andrew N. Kleit, 2004. "Impacts of Long-Range Increases in the Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standard," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 279-294, April.
    25. Rubin, Jonathan & Leiby, Paul, 2000. "An analysis of alternative fuel credit provisions of US automotive fuel economy standards," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 589-601, July.
    26. Wyatt Thompson & Seth Meyer & Pat Westhoff, 2011. "What to Conclude About Biofuel Mandates from Evolving Prices for Renewable Identification Numbers?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(2), pages 481-487.
    27. Du, Xiaodong & Hayes, Dermot J., 2009. "The impact of ethanol production on US and regional gasoline markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3227-3234, August.
    28. Whistance, Jarrett & Thompson, Wyatt, 2010. "How does increased corn-ethanol production affect US natural gas prices?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2315-2325, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bhardwaj, Chandan & Axsen, Jonn & Kern, Florian & McCollum, David, 2020. "Why have multiple climate policies for light-duty vehicles? Policy mix rationales, interactions and research gaps," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 309-326.
    2. Christensen, Adam & Hobbs, Benjamin, 2016. "A model of state and federal biofuel policy: Feasibility assessment of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 799-812.
    3. Whistance, Jarrett & Thompson, Wyatt & Meyer, Seth, 2017. "Interactions between California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the National Renewable Fuel Standard," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 447-455.
    4. Jenn, Alan & Azevedo, Inês & Michalek, Jeremy Joseph, 2019. "Alternative-Fuel-Vehicle Policy Interactions Increase U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions," OSF Preprints n69tp, Center for Open Science.
    5. Galvin, Ray, 2016. "Rebound effects from speed and acceleration in electric and internal combustion engine cars: An empirical and conceptual investigation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 207-216.
    6. repec:osf:osfxxx:n69tp_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Christensen, Adam & Siddiqui, Sauleh, 2015. "Fuel price impacts and compliance costs associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 614-624.

    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. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Maconi, Laura & Shirvani, Tara & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part I: Externalities and economic policies in road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 2-45.
    2. Thomas Klier & Joshua Linn, 2011. "Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards and the Market for New Vehicles," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 445-462, October.
    3. James M. Sallee, 2011. "The Taxation of Fuel Economy," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(1), pages 1-38.
    4. Karel Janda & Eva Michalikova & Luiz Célio Souza Rocha & Paulo Rotella Junior & Barbora Schererova & David Zilberman, 2022. "Review of the Impact of Biofuels on U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-21, December.
    5. Mark R. Jacobsen, 2013. "Evaluating US Fuel Economy Standards in a Model with Producer and Household Heterogeneity," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 148-187, May.
    6. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2014. "Shedding light on the appropriateness of the (high) gasoline tax level in Germany," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 189-210.
    7. Wang, Yiwei & Miao, Qing, 2021. "The impact of the corporate average fuel economy standards on technological changes in automobile fuel efficiency," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Clerides, Sofronis & Zachariadis, Theodoros, 2008. "The effect of standards and fuel prices on automobile fuel economy: An international analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2657-2672, September.
    9. Soren T. Anderson & James M. Sallee, 2011. "Using Loopholes to Reveal the Marginal Cost of Regulation: The Case of Fuel-Economy Standards," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1375-1409, June.
    10. Liu, Weiwei, 2015. "Gasoline taxes or efficiency standards? A heterogeneous household demand analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 54-64.
    11. Philippe Barla & Bernard Lamonde & Luis Miranda-Moreno & Nathalie Boucher, 2009. "Traveled distance, stock and fuel efficiency of private vehicles in Canada: price elasticities and rebound effect," Transportation, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 389-402, July.
    12. Barla, Philippe & Proost, Stef, 2012. "Energy efficiency policy in a non-cooperative world," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2209-2215.
    13. Allcott, Hunt & Mullainathan, Sendhil & Taubinsky, Dmitry, 2014. "Energy policy with externalities and internalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 72-88.
    14. James M. Sallee, 2014. "Rational Inattention and Energy Efficiency," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(3), pages 781-820.
    15. West, Jeremy & Hoekstra, Mark & Meer, Jonathan & Puller, Steven L., 2017. "Vehicle miles (not) traveled: Fuel economy requirements, vehicle characteristics, and household driving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 65-81.
    16. Michael L. Anderson & Maximilian Auffhammer, 2014. "Pounds That Kill: The External Costs of Vehicle Weight," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 535-571.
    17. Jenn, Alan & Azevedo, Inês & Michalek, Jeremy Joseph, 2019. "Alternative-Fuel-Vehicle Policy Interactions Increase U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions," OSF Preprints n69tp, Center for Open Science.
    18. Jeremy West & Mark Hoekstra & Jonathan Meer & Steven L. Puller, 2015. "Vehicle Miles (Not) Traveled: Why Fuel Economy Requirements Don't Increase Household Driving," NBER Working Papers 21194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Gabriel E Lade & C -Y Cynthia Lin Lawell & Aaron Smith, 2018. "Policy Shocks and Market-Based Regulations: Evidence from the Renewable Fuel Standard," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(3), pages 707-731.
    20. Sofronis Clerides & Theodoros Zachariadis, 2006. "Are standards Effective in Improving Automobile Fuel Economy?," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 6-2006, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:enepol:v:74:y:2014:i:c:p:147-157. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.