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Water Taxes and Consumer Behavior in France

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  • Simon Porcher

    (IAE Paris - Sorbonne Business School)

Abstract

Water taxes are employed to correct externalities associated with water pollution or resource scarcity and to raise government revenue. In this paper, using a dataset on more than 4,000 French municipalities, we directly examine how water taxes affect consumer behavior as distinct from tax-exclusive water prices. Our analysis shows that a 10-cent tax increase reduces water consumption by 0.26 percent, similarly to a 10-cent increase in the tax-exclusive water price. The responsiveness of consumers to tax and tax-exclusive price is important because it gives information about consumers' sensitivity to policy interventions versus market prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Porcher, 2019. "Water Taxes and Consumer Behavior in France," Working Papers hal-02145848, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02145848
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02145848v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney & Kory Kroft, 2009. "Salience and Taxation: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1145-1177, September.
    2. Simon Porcher, 2014. "Efficiency and equity in two-part tariffs: the case of residential water rates," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 539-555, February.
    3. Lucas W. Davis & Erich Muehlegger, 2010. "Do Americans consume too little natural gas? An empirical test of marginal cost pricing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(4), pages 791-810, December.
    4. James E. T. Moncur & Richard L. Pollock, 1988. "Scarcity Rents for Water: A Valuation and Pricing Model," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 64(1), pages 62-72.
    5. Shanjun Li & Joshua Linn & Erich Muehlegger, 2014. "Gasoline Taxes and Consumer Behavior," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 302-342, November.
    6. Mansur, Erin T. & Olmstead, Sheila M., 2012. "The value of scarce water: Measuring the inefficiency of municipal regulations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 332-346.
    7. Scott, K. Rebecca, 2012. "Rational habits in gasoline demand," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1713-1723.
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