IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/feddwp/101407.html

Time-Limited Subsidies: Optimal Taxation with Implications for Renewable Energy Subsidies

Author

Listed:
  • Owen Kay

  • Michael David Ricks

Abstract

Pigouvian subsidies are efficient, but output subsidies with uncertain or limited durations are not Pigouvian. We show that optimal “time-limited” policies must also subsidize investment to correct externalities generated after the output subsidy ends. Furthermore, an output subsidy’s optimal duration is characterized by the change in production when it ends. In the wind-energy industry, we find that power generation decreases by 5-10% after the end of facilities’ ten-year eligibility for the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit. This behavioral response has implications for energy transitions and highlights how time limits could cause larger distortions in more elastic industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Owen Kay & Michael David Ricks, 2025. "Time-Limited Subsidies: Optimal Taxation with Implications for Renewable Energy Subsidies," Working Papers 2530, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:feddwp:101407
    DOI: 10.24149/wp2530
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.dallasfed.org/~/media/documents/research/papers/2025/wp2530.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.24149/wp2530?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert W. Hahn & Nathaniel Hendren & Robert D. Metcalfe & Ben Sprung-Keyser, 2024. "A Welfare Analysis of Policies Impacting Climate Change," NBER Working Papers 32728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bas Jacobs, 2018. "The marginal cost of public funds is one at the optimal tax system," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 883-912, August.
    3. Kopczuk, Wojciech, 2003. "A note on optimal taxation in the presence of externalities," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 81-86, July.
    4. Langer, Ashley & Maheshri, Vikram & Winston, Clifford, 2017. "From gallons to miles: A disaggregate analysis of automobile travel and externality taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 34-46.
    5. Lohawala, Nafisa, 2023. "Roadblock or Accelerator? The Effect of Electric Vehicle Subsidy Elimination," RFF Working Paper Series 23-13, Resources for the Future.
    6. Kyle Handley & J. Frank Li, 2020. "Measuring the Effects of Firm Uncertainty on Economic Activity: New Evidence from One Million Documents," NBER Working Papers 27896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Lucas W. Davis & James M. Sallee, 2020. "Should Electric Vehicle Drivers Pay a Mileage Tax?," Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 65-94.
    2. Støstad, Morten Nyborg & Cowell, Frank, 2024. "Inequality as an externality: Consequences for tax design," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    3. Mamkhezri, Jamal & Khezri, Mohsen, 2026. "Corrigendum to “Vehicle miles traveled induced demand, rebound effect, and price and income elasticities: A US spatial econometric analysis” [Trans. Pol. 158 (2024), 224–240]," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    4. Fries, Steven, 2023. "Sequencing decarbonization policies to manage their macroeconomic impacts," INET Oxford Working Papers 2023-26, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    5. Geir H. M. Bjertnæs, 2018. "The marginal cost of public funds in large welfare state countries," Discussion Papers 879, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    6. O'Connell, Martin & Smith, Kate, 2020. "Corrective Tax Design and Market Power," CEPR Discussion Papers 14582, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Hayashida, Sherilyn & La Croix, Sumner & Coffman, Makena, 2021. "Understanding changes in electric vehicle policies in the U.S. states, 2010–2018," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 211-223.
    8. Bryan Bollinger & Kenneth Gillingham & A. Justin Kirkpatrick, 2025. "Valuing Solar Subsidies," NBER Working Papers 33368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Huang, Robert & Kahn, Matthew E., 2024. "An economic analysis of United States public transit carbon emissions dynamics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    10. Goetzke, Frank & Vance, Colin, 2018. "Is gasoline price elasticity in the United States increasing? Evidence from the 2009 and 2017 national household travel surveys," Ruhr Economic Papers 765, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2012. "Taxation of Intergenerational Transfers and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 18584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Guy Meunier & Ingmar Schumacher, 2020. "The importance of considering optimal government policy when social norms matter for the private provision of public goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(3), pages 630-655, June.
    13. Earl L. Grinols & Peri Silva, 2012. "Intervention Efficiency, Incentive Symmetry, and Information," Development Working Papers 334, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 16 Jul 2012.
    14. Barreto, Yuri & Britto, Diogo & Carrillo, Bladimir & Da Mata, Daniel & Emanuel, Lucas & Sampaio, Breno, 2025. "Cisterns for Life: Climate Adaptation Policies for Water Provision and Rural Lives," IZA Discussion Papers 18250, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Antonio M. Bento & Mark R. Jacobsen & Christopher R. Knittel & Arthur A. van Benthem, 2020. "Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Fuel-Economy Standards," Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 129-157.
    16. Hediger, Cécile, 2023. "The more kilometers, the merrier? The rebound effect and its welfare implications in private mobility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    17. Albert Jan Hummel & Bas Jacobs, 2018. "Optimal Income Taxation in Unionized Labor Markets," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-064/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. 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.
    19. Martin Adler & Stefanie Peer & Tanja Sinozic, 2019. "Autonomous, Connected, Electric Shared vehicles (ACES) and public finance: an explorative analysis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-005/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    20. Katinka Kristine Holtsmark & Åsmund Sunde Valseth, 2025. "The Marginal Equity-Adjusted Cost of Public Funds," CESifo Working Paper Series 12228, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fip:feddwp:101407. 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: Amy Chapman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbdaus.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.