IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedhwp/wp-08-13.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

New vehicle characteristics and the cost of the corporate average fuel economy standard

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas H. Klier
  • Joshua Linn

Abstract

Recent legislation has increased the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAF) standard by 40 percent, which represents the first major increase in the standard since its creation in 1975. Previous analysis of the CAF standard has focused on the short run effects, in which vehicle characteristics are held fixed, or the long run, when firms can adopt new powertrain technology. This paper focuses on the medium run, when firms can choose characteristics such as weight and power, and have a limited ability to adopt engine technology. We first document the historical importance of the medium run and then estimate consumers? willingness-to-pay for fuel efficiency, power and weight. We employ a unique empirical strategy that accounts for the characteristics? endogeneity, which has not been addressed in the literature, by using variation in the set of engine models used in vehicle models. The results imply that an increase in power has an equal effect on vehicle sales as a proportional increase in fuel efficiency. We then simulate the medium run effects of an increase in the CAF standard. The policy reduces producer and consumer welfare and causes substantial transfers across firms, but the effects are significantly smaller than in previous studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas H. Klier & Joshua Linn, 2008. "New vehicle characteristics and the cost of the corporate average fuel economy standard," Working Paper Series WP-08-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-08-13
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/working_papers/2008/wp2008_13.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Austin, David & Dinan, Terry, 2005. "Clearing the air: The costs and consequences of higher CAFE standards and increased gasoline taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 562-582, November.
    3. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    4. 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.
    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. 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.
    2. Liu, Yizao, 2010. "Gasoline Prices, Fuel Economy Efficiency And Automobile Replacement Dynamics," Working Paper series 148290, University of Connecticut, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    3. Mathias Reynaert & James M. Sallee, 2021. "Who Benefits When Firms Game Corrective Policies?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 372-412, February.
    4. 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.
    5. Banzhaf, H. Spencer & Kasim, M. Taha, 2019. "Fuel consumption and gasoline prices: The role of assortative matching between households and automobiles," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-25.
    6. 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.
    7. Shanjun Li & Christopher Timmins & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "How Do Gasoline Prices Affect Fleet Fuel Economy?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 113-137, August.
    8. Zhou, Fan & Yang, Ziying & Wu, Di & Zheng, Zuduo, 2024. "Shifting towards luxury cars: The price and environmental effects of Beijing’s vehicle lottery system and an alternative policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    9. Lawrence Goulder, 2007. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased U.S. Gasoline Taxes," Discussion Papers 07-009, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    10. Soren T. Anderson & Ian W. H. Parry & James M. Sallee & Carolyn Fischer, 2011. "Automobile Fuel Economy Standards: Impacts, Efficiency, and Alternatives," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 89-108, Winter.
    11. Allcott, Hunt & Mullainathan, Sendhil & Taubinsky, Dmitry, 2014. "Energy policy with externalities and internalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 72-88.
    12. Liu, Yizao, 2014. "Household demand and willingness to pay for hybrid vehicles," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 191-197.
    13. Whitefoot, Kate S. & Skerlos, Steven J., 2012. "Design incentives to increase vehicle size created from the U.S. footprint-based fuel economy standards," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 402-411.
    14. Isis Durrmeyer, 2021. "Winners and Losers: The Distributional Effects of the French Feebate on the Automobile Market," Post-Print hal-03514846, HAL.
    15. Jiménez, Juan Luis & Perdiguero, Jordi & García, Carmen, 2016. "Evaluation of subsidies programs to sell green cars: Impact on prices, quantities and efficiency," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 105-118.
    16. 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.
    17. Naoki Wakamori, 2011. "Portfolio Considerations in Differentiated Product Purchases: An Application to the Japanese Automobile Market," Staff Working Papers 11-27, Bank of Canada.
    18. Michael L. Anderson & Maximilian Auffhammer, 2014. "Pounds That Kill: The External Costs of Vehicle Weight," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 535-571.
    19. Thomas Klier & Joshua Linn, 2011. "Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards and the Market for New Vehicles," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 445-462, October.
    20. Tan, Jijun & Xiao, Junji & Zhou, Xiaolan, 2019. "Market equilibrium and welfare effects of a fuel tax in China: The impact of consumers' response through driving patterns," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 20-43.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fuel;

    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:fedhwp:wp-08-13. 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: Lauren Wiese (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbchus.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.