IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/200906100700001138.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Biofuels policies and welfare: is the stick of mandates better than the carrot of subsidies?

Author

Listed:
  • Lapan, Harvey E.
  • Moschini, GianCarlo

Abstract

Significant government support for biofuels has led to rapid growth in U.S. ethanol production and research to develop more advanced biofuels. In this paper we construct a general equilibrium, open economy model that captures the rationale typically invoked to justify government intervention in this setting: to alleviate the environmental impact of energy consumption and to decrease U.S. energy dependence on foreign sources. The model is used to study both the positive and normative implications of alternative policy instruments, including the subsidies and mandates specified by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. From a positive perspective, we find that biofuels mandates are equivalent to a combination of fuel taxes and biofuels subsidies that are revenue neutral. From a welfare perspective, we show that biofuels mandates dominate biofuels subsidies, and that combining fuel taxes (rather than subsidies) with mandates would be welfare enhancing.

Suggested Citation

  • Lapan, Harvey E. & Moschini, GianCarlo, 2009. "Biofuels policies and welfare: is the stick of mandates better than the carrot of subsidies?," ISU General Staff Papers 200906100700001138, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:200906100700001138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/598251c5-39b6-47b0-870b-329533c7725e/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hertel, Thomas W. & Tyner, Wallace E. & Birur, Dileep K., 2008. "Biofuels for all? Understanding the Global Impacts of Multinational Mandates," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6526, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Stephen P. Holland & Jonathan E. Hughes & Christopher R. Knittel, 2009. "Greenhouse Gas Reductions under Low Carbon Fuel Standards?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 106-146, February.
    3. Hertel, Thomas W. & Tyner, Wallace E. & Birur, Dileep K., 2008. "Biofuels for all? Understanding the Global Impacts of Multinational Mandates," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6526, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Harry de Gorter & David R. Just, 2008. "The Economics of a Blend Mandate for Biofuels," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(3), pages 738-750.
    5. Rajagopal, Deepak & Zilberman, David, 2007. "Review of environmental, economic and policy aspects of biofuels," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4341, The World Bank.
    6. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2005. "Does Britain or the United States Have the Right Gasoline Tax?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1276-1289, September.
    7. de Gorter, Harry & Just, David R., 2007. "The Law of Unintended Consequences: How the U.S. Biofuel Tax Credit with a Mandate Subsidizes Oil Consumption and Has No Impact on Ethanol Consumption," Working Papers 127022, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    8. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    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. Subhayu Bandyopadhyay & Sumon Bhaumik & Howard J. Wall, 2013. "Biofuel Subsidies and International Trade," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 181-199, July.
    2. Ruiqing Miao & David A. Hennessy & Bruce A. Babcock, 2012. "Investment in Cellulosic Biofuel Refineries: Do Waivable Biofuel Mandates Matter?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(3), pages 750-762.
    3. Quentin Grafton, R. & Kompas, Tom & Van Long, Ngo, 2012. "Substitution between biofuels and fossil fuels: Is there a green paradox?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 328-341.
    4. Drabik, Dusan, 2011. "The Theory of Biofuel Policy and Food Grain Prices," Working Papers 126615, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    5. Bullock David S. & Couleau Anabelle, 2014. "Policy Analysis in Welfare and Policy Spaces: Applications to the Labyrinthine U.S. Ethanol Policy Literature," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, January.
    6. Jingbo Cui & Harvey Lapan & GianCarlo Moschini & Joseph Cooper, 2011. "Welfare Impacts of Alternative Biofuel and Energy Policies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1235-1256.
    7. Virginie Doumax, 2010. "The French Biodiesel Production: An Assessment of the Impacts and Interaction Effects of Policy Instruments," CAE Working Papers 87, Aix-Marseille Université, CERGAM.
    8. Moschini, GianCarlo & Cui, Jingbo & Lapan, Harvey E., 2012. "Economics of Biofuels: An Overview of Policies, Impacts and Prospects," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 1(3), pages 1-28, December.
    9. Lapan, Harvey & Moschini, GianCarlo, 2012. "Second-best biofuel policies and the welfare effects of quantity mandates and subsidies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 224-241.
    10. Bullock, David S. & Couleau, Anabelle, 2012. "The U.S. Ethanol and Commodity Policy Labyrinth: Looking into Welfare Space to Analyze Policies that Combine Multiple Instruments," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126901, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Rajagopal, Deepak & Zilberman, David, 2013. "On market-mediated emissions and regulations on life cycle emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 77-84.
    12. Rajagopal, D. & Plevin, R. & Hochman, G. & Zilberman, D., 2015. "Multi-objective regulations on transportation fuels: Comparing renewable fuel mandates and emission standards," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 359-369.
    13. Cui, Jingbo, 2012. "Three essays on biofuel, environmental economics, and international trade," ISU General Staff Papers 201201010800003311, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    14. Drabik, Dusan & de Gorter, Harry, 2010. "Biofuels And Leakages In The Fuel Market," 2010: Climate Change in World Agriculture: Mitigation, Adaptation, Trade and Food Security, June 2010, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany 91265, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    15. repec:pra:mprapa:41490 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Yeboah, Osei & Shaik, Saleem, 2021. "The influence of climate change on the demand for ethanol," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1559-1565.
    17. McPhail, Lihong Lu, 2011. "Assessing the impact of US ethanol on fossil fuel markets: A structural VAR approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1177-1185.

    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. Jingbo Cui & Harvey Lapan & GianCarlo Moschini & Joseph Cooper, 2011. "Welfare Impacts of Alternative Biofuel and Energy Policies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1235-1256.
    2. Moschini, GianCarlo & Cui, Jingbo & Lapan, Harvey E., 2012. "Economics of Biofuels: An Overview of Policies, Impacts and Prospects," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 1(3), pages 1-28, December.
    3. Banse, M. & Sorda, G., 2010. "Impact of Different Biofuel Policy Options on Agricultural Production and Land Use in Germany," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 45, March.
    4. María Blanco & Marcel Adenäuer & Shailesh Shrestha & Arno Becker, 2012. "Methodology to assess EU Biofuel Policies: The CAPRI Approach," JRC Research Reports JRC80037, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Wydra, Sven, 2015. "Challenges for technology diffusion policy to achieve socio-economic goals," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 76-90.
    6. Hugo Valin & Betina Dimaranan & Antoine Bouet, 2009. "Biofuels in the world markets: A Computable General Equilibrium assessment of environmental costs related to land use changes," Working Papers hal-03550775, HAL.
    7. Kamel Louhichi & Hugo Valin, 2012. "Impact of EU biofuel policies on the French arable sector: A micro-level analysis using global market and farm-based supply models," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 93(3), pages 233-272.
    8. Huang, Haixiao & Khanna, Madhu & Önal, Hayri & Chen, Xiaoguang, 2013. "Stacking low carbon policies on the renewable fuels standard: Economic and greenhouse gas implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 5-15.
    9. Saraly Andrade de Sá & Charles Palmer & Stefanie Engel, 2012. "Ethanol Production, Food and Forests," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(1), pages 1-21, January.
    10. Galinato, Gregmar I. & Yoder, Jonathan K., 2010. "An integrated tax-subsidy policy for carbon emission reduction," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 310-326, August.
    11. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Hubert, Marie-Hélène & Moreaux, Michel & Nøstbakken, Linda, 2010. "Will Biofuel Mandates Raise Food Prices?," TSE Working Papers 10-212, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    12. de Gorter, Harry & Just, David R. & Tan, Qinwen, 2009. "The Socially Optimal Import Tariff and Tax Credit for Ethanol with Farm Subsidies," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 38(1), pages 1-13, April.
    13. Bento, Antonio M. & Klotz, Richard & Landry, Joel R., 2011. "Are there Carbon Savings from US Biofuel Policies? Accounting for Leakage in Land and Fuel Markets," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 104008, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Grant J. Allan, 2015. "The Regional Economic Impacts of Biofuels: A Review of Multisectoral Modelling Techniques and Evaluation of Applications," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(4), pages 615-643, April.
    15. Sukati, Mphumuzi, 2014. "The South African Bio ethanol blend mandate and its implications on regional agricultural markets and welfare," MPRA Paper 57702, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Janda, Karel & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Zilberman, David, "undated". "Biofuels: review of policies and impacts," CUDARE Working Papers 120415, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    17. Espinola-Arredondo, Ana & Wandschneider, Philip R. & Yoder, Jonathan K., 2009. "Biofuel policy for the pursuit of multiple goals: The case of Washington State," Western Economics Forum, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9.
    18. Landry, Joel R. & Bento, Antonio M., 2020. "On the trade-offs of regulating multiple unpriced externalities with a single instrument: Evidence from biofuel policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    19. Hertel, Thomas W., 2010. "The Global Supply and Demand for Agricultural Land in 2050: A Perfect Storm in the Making?," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 92639, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Panichelli, Luis & Gnansounou, Edgard, 2015. "Impact of agricultural-based biofuel production on greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change: Key modelling choices," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 344-360.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General

    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:isu:genstf:200906100700001138. 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: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.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.