IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/econjl/v132y2022i644p1414-1448..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Winners and Losers: the Distributional Effects of the French Feebate on the Automobile Market

Author

Listed:
  • Isis Durrmeyer

Abstract

I quantify the welfare and environmental gains and losses from a policy establishing an environmental tax/subsidy for new cars in France in 2008. I estimate a structural model of demand and supply that features heterogeneity in consumer preferences to go beyond the average policy effects and analyse distributional aspects. The policy reduces average carbon emissions by 1.6% at the cost of additional emissions of local pollutants. The regulation favours middle-income individuals but has redistributive effects when combined with a tax that is proportional to income. Moreover, local pollutant emissions increase least in poor and rural areas, suggesting another redistribution channel.

Suggested Citation

  • Isis Durrmeyer, 2022. "Winners and Losers: the Distributional Effects of the French Feebate on the Automobile Market," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(644), pages 1414-1448.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:132:y:2022:i:644:p:1414-1448.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueab084
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xavier D'Haultfœuille & Pauline Givord & Xavier Boutin, 2014. "The Environmental Effect of Green Taxation: The Case of the French Bonus/Malus," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(578), pages 444-480, August.
    2. Arik Levinson, 2019. "Energy Efficiency Standards Are More Regressive Than Energy Taxes: Theory and Evidence," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(S1), pages 7-36.
    3. Pavanini, Nicola & Feger, Fabian & Radulescu, Doina, 2017. "Welfare and Redistribution in Residential Electricity Markets with Solar Power," CEPR Discussion Papers 12517, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Severin Borenstein & Lucas W. Davis, 2016. "The Distributional Effects of US Clean Energy Tax Credits," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 191-234.
    5. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased US Gasoline Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 667-699, June.
    6. Steven Berry & James Levinsohn & Ariel Pakes, 2004. "Differentiated Products Demand Systems from a Combination of Micro and Macro Data: The New Car Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(1), pages 68-105, February.
    7. Stephen P. Holland & Erin T. Mansur & Nicholas Z. Muller & Andrew J. Yates, 2016. "Are There Environmental Benefits from Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(12), pages 3700-3729, December.
    8. Xavier D’Haultfœuille & Isis Durrmeyer & Philippe Février, 2019. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium with Unobserved Price Discrimination," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(5), pages 1973-1998.
    9. Laura Nurski & Frank Verboven, 2016. "Exclusive Dealing as a Barrier to Entry? Evidence from Automobiles," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(3), pages 1156-1188.
    10. Durrmeyer, Isis & Samano, Mario, 2016. "To Rebate or Not to Rebate: Fuel Economy Standards vs. Feebates?," TSE Working Papers 16-732, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised May 2017.
    11. Isaiah Andrews & Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2017. "Measuring the Sensitivity of Parameter Estimates to Estimation Moments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1553-1592.
    12. Antonio Bento & Matthew Freedman & Corey Lang, 2015. "Who Benefits from Environmental Regulation? Evidence from the Clean Air Act Amendments," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(3), pages 610-622, July.
    13. West, Sarah E., 2004. "Distributional effects of alternative vehicle pollution control policies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 735-757, March.
    14. Stephen P. Holland & Erin T. Mansur & Nicholas Z. Muller & Andrew J. Yates, 2019. "Distributional Effects of Air Pollution from Electric Vehicle Adoption," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(S1), pages 65-94.
    15. 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.
    16. Amil Petrin, 2002. "Quantifying the Benefits of New Products: The Case of the Minivan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(4), pages 705-729, August.
    17. Thomas Klier & Joshua Linn, 2012. "New‐vehicle characteristics and the cost of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(1), pages 186-213, March.
    18. 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.
    19. Mar Reguant, 2018. "The Efficiency and Sectoral Distributional Implications of Large-Scale Renewable Policies," NBER Working Papers 24398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Huse, Cristian, 2014. "Fast and Furious (and Dirty): How Asymmetric Regulation May Hinder Environmental Policy," MPRA Paper 48909, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. D’Haultfœuille, Xavier & Durrmeyer, Isis & Février, Philippe, 2016. "Disentangling sources of vehicle emissions reduction in France: 2003–2008," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 186-229.
    22. Adamos Adamou & Sofronis Clerides & Theodoros Zachariadis, 2014. "Welfare Implications of Car Feebates: A Simulation Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(578), pages 420-443, August.
    23. Mark R. Jacobsen & Arthur A. van Benthem, 2015. "Vehicle Scrappage and Gasoline Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1312-1338, March.
    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. Fournel, Jean-François, 2023. "Electric Vehicle Subsidies: Cost-Effectiveness and Emission Reductions," TSE Working Papers 23-1465, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    2. Wang, Banban & Pizer, William A. & Munnings, Clayton, 2022. "Price limits in a tradable performance standard," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Daniel Chaves, 2022. "Market Power, Taxation and Product Variety in the Brazilian Automobile Industry," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20227, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    4. Mathias Reynaert, 2021. "Abatement Strategies and the Cost of Environmental Regulation: Emission Standards on the European Car Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(1), pages 454-488.
    5. Vatsala Shreeti, 2024. "Tracing the adoption of digital technologies," BIS Working Papers 1166, Bank for International Settlements.
    6. Kessler, Louise & Morvillier, Florian & Perrier, Quentin & Rucheton, Keyvan, 2023. "An ex-ante evaluation of the French car feebate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Lu, Tingmingke, 2023. "On the income elasticity and regressivity of emission taxation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    8. Marion Leroutier & Philippe Quirion, 2021. "Tackling Transport-Induced Pollution in Cities: A case Study in Paris," Working Papers 2021.07, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

    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. Isis Durrmeyer, 2021. "Winners and Losers: The Distributional Effects of the French Feebate on the Automobile Market," Post-Print hal-03514846, HAL.
    2. Xing, Jianwei & Leard, Benjamin & Li, Shanjun, 2021. "What does an electric vehicle replace?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    3. Konishi, Yoshifumi & Kuroda, Sho, 2023. "Why is Japan’s carbon emissions from road transportation declining?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
    5. Tatsuya Abe, 2022. "Welfare Effects of Fuel Tax and Feebate Policies in the Japanese New Car Market," Working Papers e172, Tokyo Center for Economic Research.
    6. Leard, Benjamin & Linn, Joshua & Springel, Katalin, 2023. "Vehicle Attribute Tradeoffs and the Distributional Effects of US Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards," RFF Working Paper Series 23-04, Resources for the Future.
    7. Spiller, Elisheba & Stephens, Heather M. & Chen, Yong, 2017. "Understanding the heterogeneous effects of gasoline taxes across income and location," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 74-90.
    8. Leard, Benjamin & Linn, Joshua & Springel, Katalin, 2019. "Pass-Through and Welfare Effects of Regulations that Affect Product Attributes," RFF Working Paper Series 19-07, Resources for the Future.
    9. Mathias Reynaert, 2021. "Abatement Strategies and the Cost of Environmental Regulation: Emission Standards on the European Car Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(1), pages 454-488.
    10. D’Haultfœuille, Xavier & Durrmeyer, Isis & Février, Philippe, 2016. "Disentangling sources of vehicle emissions reduction in France: 2003–2008," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 186-229.
    11. Bhardwaj, Chandan & Axsen, Jonn & McCollum, David, 2022. "Which “second-best” climate policies are best? Simulating cost-effective policy mixes for passenger vehicles," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Patrick Bigler & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2022. "Environmental, Redistributive and Revenue Effects of Policies Promoting Fuel Efficient and Electric Vehicles," CESifo Working Paper Series 9645, CESifo.
    13. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Managing the distributional effects of climate policies: A narrow path to a just transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    14. Mattauch, Linus & Zhao, Jiaxin, 2021. "When standards have better distributional consequences than carbon taxes," INET Oxford Working Papers 2020-25, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    15. Verboven, Frank & Grigolon, Laura & Reynaert, Mathias, 2014. "Consumer valuation of fuel costs and the effectiveness of tax policy: Evidence from the European car market," CEPR Discussion Papers 10301, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Marz, Waldemar & Goetzke, Frank, 2022. "CAFE in the city — A spatial analysis of fuel economy standards," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Doremus, Jacqueline & Helfand, Gloria & Liu, Changzheng & Donahue, Marie & Kahan, Ari & Shelby, Michael, 2019. "Simpler is better: Predicting consumer vehicle purchases in the short run," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1404-1415.
    20. Zhao, Jiaxin & Mattauch, Linus, 2022. "When standards have better distributional consequences than carbon taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

    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:oup:econjl:v:132:y:2022:i:644:p:1414-1448.. 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: Oxford University Press or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/resssea.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.