IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v39y2011i9p5509-5518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of US biofuel policies on US and world petroleum product markets with consequences for greenhouse gas emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Thompson, Wyatt
  • Whistance, Jarrett
  • Meyer, Seth

Abstract

US biofuel policy includes greenhouse gas reduction targets. Regulators do not address the potential that biofuel policy can have indirect impacts on greenhouse gases through its impacts on petroleum product markets, and scientific research only partially addresses this question. We use economic models of US biofuel and agricultural markets and US and world petroleum and petroleum product markets to show that discontinuing biofuel tax credits and ethanol tariff lower biofuel use could lead to increased US petroleum product use, and a reduction in petroleum product use in other parts of the world. The net effect is lower greenhouse gas emissions. Under certain assumptions, we show that biofuel use mandate elimination can have positive or negative impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. The magnitude and the direction of effects depend on how US biofuel trade affects biofuel in other countries with different emissions, context that determines how important use mandates are in the first place, who pays mandate costs, and the price responsiveness of global petroleum supplies and uses. However, our results show that counter-intuitive effects are possible and discourage broad conclusions about the greenhouse gas impacts of removing these elements of US biofuel policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Thompson, Wyatt & Whistance, Jarrett & Meyer, Seth, 2011. "Effects of US biofuel policies on US and world petroleum product markets with consequences for greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5509-5518, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:9:p:5509-5518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511003831
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaodong Du & Dermot J. Hayes & Mindy L. Mallory, 2009. "A Welfare Analysis of the U.S. Ethanol Subsidy," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 31(4), pages 669-676, December.
    2. Roman Keeney & Thomas W. Hertel, 2009. "The Indirect Land Use Impacts of United States Biofuel Policies: The Importance of Acreage, Yield, and Bilateral Trade Responses," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(4), pages 895-909.
    3. Dees, Stephane & Karadeloglou, Pavlos & Kaufmann, Robert K. & Sanchez, Marcelo, 2007. "Modelling the world oil market: Assessment of a quarterly econometric model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 178-191, January.
    4. Gal Hochman & Deepak Rajagopal & David Zilberman, 2011. "The Effect of Biofuels on the International Oil Market," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 402-427.
    5. Du, Xiaodong & Hayes, Dermot J., 2009. "The impact of ethanol production on US and regional gasoline markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3227-3234, August.
    6. Ramcharran, Harri, 2002. "Oil production responses to price changes: an empirical application of the competitive model to OPEC and non-OPEC countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 97-106, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Jarrett Whistance & Wyatt W. Thompson & Seth D. Meyer, 2010. "Ethanol Policy Effects on U.S. Natural Gas Prices and Quantities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 178-182, May.
    9. Nicol, C. J., 2003. "Elasticities of demand for gasoline in Canada and the United States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 201-214, March.
    10. Birur, Dileep & Hertel, Thomas & Tyner, Wally, 2008. "Impact of Biofuel Production on World Agricultural Markets: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis," GTAP Working Papers 2413, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    11. Dermot Gately & Hillard G. Huntington, 2002. "The Asymmetric Effects of Changes in Price and Income on Energy and Oil Demand," The Energy Journal, , vol. 23(1), pages 19-55, January.
    12. John C.B. Cooper, 2003. "Price elasticity of demand for crude oil: estimates for 23 countries," OPEC Energy Review, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, vol. 27(1), pages 1-8, March.
    13. Miranowski, John, 2005. "Energy Consumption in US Agriculture," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12627, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    14. Krichene, Noureddine, 2002. "World crude oil and natural gas: a demand and supply model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 557-576, November.
    15. Daniel J. Graham & Stephen Glaister, 2002. "The Demand for Automobile Fuel: A Survey of Elasticities," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 36(1), pages 1-25, January.
    16. Gal Hochman & Deepak Rajagopal & David Zilberman, 2011. "The Effect of Biofuels on the International Oil Market," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 402-427.
    17. Mark Gehlhar & Agapi Somwaru & Peter B. Dixon & Maureen T. Rimmer & Ashley R. Winston, 2010. "Economywide Implications from US Bioenergy Expansion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 172-177, May.
    18. Dahl, Carol & Sterner, Thomas, 1991. "Analysing gasoline demand elasticities: a survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 203-210, July.
    19. Alves, Denisard C. O. & De Losso da Silveira Bueno, Rodrigo, 2003. "Short-run, long-run and cross elasticities of gasoline demand in Brazil," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 191-199, March.
    20. Whistance, Jarrett & Thompson, Wyatt, 2010. "How does increased corn-ethanol production affect US natural gas prices?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2315-2325, May.
    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. Altinay, Galip, 2007. "Short-run and long-run elasticities of import demand for crude oil in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5829-5835, November.
    2. Prest, Brian C. & Fell, Harrison & Gordon, Deborah & Conway, TJ, 2024. "Estimating the emissions reductions from supply-side fossil fuel interventions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Rowland, Christopher S. & Mjelde, James W. & Dharmasena, Senarath, 2017. "Policy implications of considering pre-commitments in U.S. aggregate energy demand system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 406-413.
    4. Yousaf Raza, Muhammad & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Oil for Pakistan: What are the main factors affecting the oil import?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    5. Golombek, Rolf & Irarrazabal, Alfonso A. & Ma, Lin, 2018. "OPEC's market power: An empirical dominant firm model for the oil market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 98-115.
    6. Eleyan, Mohammed I.Abu & Çatık, Abdurrahman Nazif & Balcılar, Mehmet & Ballı, Esra, 2021. "Are long-run income and price elasticities of oil demand time-varying? New evidence from BRICS countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    7. Khalil Jebran & Abdullah & Mahmoud Moustafa Elhabbaq & Arshad Ali, 2017. "Income and Price Elasticities of Crude Oil Demand in Pakistan," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 18(6), pages 1373-1383, December.
    8. Ghosh, Sajal, 2009. "Import demand of crude oil and economic growth: Evidence from India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 699-702, February.
    9. Havranek, Tomas & Kokes, Ondrej, 2015. "Income elasticity of gasoline demand: A meta-analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 77-86.
    10. Drabik, Dušan & de Gorter, Harry, 2013. "Emissions from Indirect Land Use Change: Do they Matter with Fuel Market Leakages?," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 16(2), pages 1-13, September.
    11. Baranzini, Andrea & Weber, Sylvain, 2013. "Elasticities of gasoline demand in Switzerland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 674-680.
    12. Marbuah, George, 2014. "Understanding crude oil import demand behaviour in Ghana," MPRA Paper 60436, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Rosa M. González-Marrero & Rosa M. Lorenzo-Alegría & Gustavo A. Marrero, 2011. "Gasoline and Diesel Consumption for Road Transport in Spain: a Dynamic Panel Data Approach," Economic Reports 04-2011, FEDEA.
    14. Genc, Talat S., 2017. "OPEC and demand response to crude oil prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 238-246.
    15. Eric Fosu Oteng-Abayie & Prosper Awuni Ayinbilla & Maame Esi Eshun, 2018. "Macroeconomic Determinants of Crude Oil Demand in Ghana," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(4), pages 873-888, August.
    16. Selien De Schryder & Gert Peersman, 2016. "The U.S. Dollar Exchange Rate and the Demand for Oil," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(1), pages 90-114, January.
    17. Jonathan E. Hughes & Christopher R. Knittel & Daniel Sperling, 2008. "Evidence of a Shift in the Short-Run Price Elasticity of Gasoline Demand," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 113-134.
    18. Chevillon, Guillaume & Rifflart, Christine, 2009. "Physical market determinants of the price of crude oil and the market premium," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 537-549, July.
    19. Scott, K. Rebecca, 2015. "Demand and price uncertainty: Rational habits in international gasoline demand," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 40-49.
    20. Whistance, Jarrett & Thompson, Wyatt, 2014. "The role of CAFE standards and alternative-fuel vehicle production credits in U.S. biofuels markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 147-157.

    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:39:y:2011:i:9:p:5509-5518. 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.