IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v88y2016icp27-38.html

Distributional incidence of green electricity price subsidies in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Feng
  • Zhang, Bing

Abstract

Distributional incidences are fundamental to environmental and energy policies, a condition that has led to controversies on the equity of environmental and energy policy. Using data from China's Urban Household Income and Expenditure Survey data from 2007, this study quantified the distributional effects of the green electricity price subsidy policy among Chinese urban household and compared its effects by using lifetime income and annual income to classify households, respectively. The results show that total electricity subsidies are mainly driven by indirect electricity subsidies. By using lifetime income to classify households, subsidies to households in the poorest two groups accounted for less than 10.2% of the total subsidies, whereas money distributed to households in the top two deciles reached 35.4%. The comparison using annual income to group households also demonstrated the similar impact of the green electricity price subsidy policy. China’s future market reforms should allow electricity prices to reflect pollution abatement costs. Additionally, a multi-step block electricity price schedule can reduce the regressivity of the policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Feng & Zhang, Bing, 2016. "Distributional incidence of green electricity price subsidies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 27-38.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:88:y:2016:i:c:p:27-38
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.09.035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421515301208
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.09.035?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. Burtraw, Dallas & Sweeney, Richard & Walls, Margaret, 2009. "The Incidence of U.S. Climate Policy: Alternative Uses of Revenues From a Cap-and-Trade Auction," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(3), pages 497-518, September.
    2. Liu, Hong-Tao & Guo, Ju-E & Qian, Dong & Xi, You-Min, 2009. "Comprehensive evaluation of household indirect energy consumption and impacts of alternative energy policies in China by input-output analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3194-3204, August.
    3. Kristin Komives & Vivien Foster & Jonathan Halpern & Quentin Wodon, 2005. "Water, Electricity, and the Poor : Who Benefits from Utility Subsidies?," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6361, April.
    4. Jiang, Zhujun & Shao, Shuai, 2014. "Distributional effects of a carbon tax on Chinese households: A case of Shanghai," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 269-277.
    5. repec:aen:journl:2009v30-02-a08 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Rausch, Sebastian & Metcalf, Gilbert E. & Reilly, John M., 2011. "Distributional impacts of carbon pricing: A general equilibrium approach with micro-data for households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 20-33.
    7. Wier, Mette & Birr-Pedersen, Katja & Jacobsen, Henrik Klinge & Klok, Jacob, 2005. "Are CO2 taxes regressive? Evidence from the Danish experience," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 239-251, January.
    8. Weber, Christopher L. & Peters, Glen P. & Guan, Dabo & Hubacek, Klaus, 2008. "The contribution of Chinese exports to climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3572-3577, September.
    9. Golley, Jane & Meng, Xin, 2012. "Income inequality and carbon dioxide emissions: The case of Chinese urban households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1864-1872.
    10. Milton Friedman, 1957. "A Theory of the Consumption Function," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie57-1, January.
    11. Milton Friedman, 1957. "The Permanent Income Hypothesis," NBER Chapters, in: A Theory of the Consumption Function, pages 20-37, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Hondo, Hiroki & Sakai, Shinsuke & Tanno, Shiro, 2002. "Sensitivity analysis of total CO2 emission intensities estimated using an input-output table," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(3-4), pages 689-704, July.
    13. Kok, Rixt & Benders, Rene M.J. & Moll, Henri C., 2006. "Measuring the environmental load of household consumption using some methods based on input-output energy analysis: A comparison of methods and a discussion of results," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2744-2761, November.
    14. West, Sarah E. & Williams, R.C.Roberton III, 2004. "Estimates from a consumer demand system: implications for the incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 535-558, May.
    15. Gonzalez, Fidel, 2012. "Distributional effects of carbon taxes: The case of Mexico," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2102-2115.
    16. Dai, Hancheng & Masui, Toshihiko & Matsuoka, Yuzuru & Fujimori, Shinichiro, 2012. "The impacts of China’s household consumption expenditure patterns on energy demand and carbon emissions towards 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 736-750.
    17. Leonard P. Gianessi & Henry M. Peskin & Edward Wolff, 1979. "The Distributional Effects of Uniform Air Pollution Policy in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(2), pages 281-301.
    18. Don Fullerton, 2011. "Six Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 923-929, June.
    19. Ysé Serret & Nick Johnstone (ed.), 2006. "The Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3800, June.
    20. Mongelli, I. & Tassielli, G. & Notarnicola, B., 2006. "Global warming agreements, international trade and energy/carbon embodiments: an input-output approach to the Italian case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 88-100, January.
    21. Yang, Jin & Chen, Bin, 2014. "Carbon footprint estimation of Chinese economic sectors based on a three-tier model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 499-507.
    22. Corbett Grainger & Charles Kolstad, 2010. "Who Pays a Price on Carbon?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(3), pages 359-376, July.
    23. Kristin Komives & Todd M. Johnson & Jonathan D. Halpern & Jose Luis Aburto & John R. Scott, 2009. "Residential Electricity Subsidies in Mexico : Exploring Options for Reform and for Enhancing the Impact on the Poor," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 5959, April.
    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. Zheng, Shiyuan & Jiang, Changmin & Fu, Xiaowen & Ge, Ying-En & Shu, Jia, 2022. "Subsidies for green technology adoption under uncertain demand and incomplete information," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Maboshe, Mashekwa & Kabechani, Akabondo & Chelwa, Grieve, 2019. "The welfare effects of unprecedented electricity price hikes in Zambia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 108-117.
    3. Meng, Ming & Wang, Lixue & Shang, Wei, 2018. "Decomposition and forecasting analysis of China's household electricity consumption using three-dimensional decomposition and hybrid trend extrapolation models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PA), pages 143-152.
    4. Ilyas, Rubina & Hussain, Khadim & Ullah, Mehreen Zaid & Xue, Jianhong, 2022. "Distributional impact of phasing out residential electricity subsidies on household welfare," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Yang Xu & Jiahua Hu & Yizheng Wang & Weiwei Zhang & Wei Wu, 2022. "Understanding the Economic Responses to China’s Electricity Price-Cutting Policy: Evidence from Zhejiang Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Xiaoyu Liu & Xian’en Wang & Junnian Song & Haiyan Duan & Shuo Wang, 2019. "Why Are the Carbon Footprints of China’s Urban Households Rising? An Input–Output Analysis and Structural Decomposition Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Xiaolei Wang & Boqiang Lin, 2017. "Electricity subsidy reform in China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 28(3), pages 245-262, May.
    8. Jing, Rui & Wang, Meng & Brandon, Nigel & Zhao, Yingru, 2017. "Multi-criteria evaluation of solid oxide fuel cell based combined cooling heating and power (SOFC-CCHP) applications for public buildings in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 273-289.
    9. Liu, Xiaobing & Yan, Xuedong & Liu, Feng & Wang, Rui & Leng, Yan, 2019. "A trip-specific model for fuel saving estimation and subsidy policy making of carpooling based on empirical data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 295-311.

    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. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2018. "Distributional Impacts of Climate Mitigation Policies - a Meta-Analysis," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1776, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 1-42, January.
    3. Moritz A. Drupp & Ulrike Kornek & Jasper N. Meya & Lutz Sager, 2021. "Inequality and the Environment: The Economics of a Two-Headed Hydra," CESifo Working Paper Series 9447, CESifo.
    4. Saelim, Supawan, 2019. "Carbon tax incidence on household consumption: Heterogeneity across socio-economic factors in Thailand," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 159-174.
    5. Heindl, Peter & Löschel, Andreas, 2015. "Social implications of green growth policies from the perspective of energy sector reform and its impact on households," CAWM Discussion Papers 81, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    6. Yuan, Baolong & Ren, Shenggang & Chen, Xiaohong, 2015. "The effects of urbanization, consumption ratio and consumption structure on residential indirect CO2 emissions in China: A regional comparative analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 94-106.
    7. Ravigné, Emilien & Ghersi, Frédéric & Nadaud, Franck, 2022. "Is a fair energy transition possible? Evidence from the French low-carbon strategy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    8. Wang, Qian & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Wei, Yi-Ming & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2016. "Distributional effects of carbon taxation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1123-1131.
    9. Leonard Missbach & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2025. "Compensation Design for Carbon Pricing with Horizontal Heterogeneity: Evidence from 88 Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 12258, CESifo.
    10. Joshua Blonz & Dallas Burtraw & Margaret Walls, 2012. "Social safety nets and US climate policy costs," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 474-490, July.
    11. Justin Caron & Jefferson Cole & Richard Goettle & Chikara Onda & James Mcfarland & Jared Woollacott, 2018. "Distributional Implications Of A National Co2 Tax In The U.S. Across Income Classes And Regions: A Multi-Model Overview," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(01), pages 1-32, February.
    12. Waldemar Marz, 2019. "Climate Policy and Inequality in Two-Dimensional Political Competition," ifo Working Paper Series 319, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    13. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang & Liu, Xiying, 2023. "Rethinking the equity and efficiency of carbon tax: A novel perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    14. Sager, Lutz, 2023. "The global consumer incidence of carbon pricing: Evidence from trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    15. Walid Oueslati & Vera Zipperer & Damien Rousselière & Alexandros Dimitropoulos, 2017. "Energy taxes, reforms and income inequality: An empirical cross-country analysis," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 150, pages 80-95.
    16. Xinkuo Xu & Liyan Han, 2017. "Diverse Effects of Consumer Credit on Household Carbon Emissions at Quantiles: Evidence from Urban China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, September.
    17. Jorge Alberto Rosas Flores & David Morillón Gálvez & Rodolfo Silva, 2024. "Effects of Removing Energy Subsidies and Implementing Carbon Taxes on Urban, Rural and Gender Welfare: Evidence from Mexico," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-17, May.
    18. Peter Grösche & Carsten Schröder, 2014. "On the redistributive effects of Germany’s feed-in tariff," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1339-1383, June.
    19. Frederick Ploeg, 2021. "Carbon pricing under uncertainty," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1122-1142, October.
    20. Jacobs, Bas & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2019. "Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 198-226.

    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:88:y:2016:i:c:p:27-38. 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.