IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2016-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Support policies for renewables: Instrument choice and instrument change from a Public Choice perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Gawel
  • Sebastian Strunz
  • Paul Lehmann

Abstract

This paper frames the transition towards clean energies as a sequential process of instrument choice and instrument change. First, regulators decide how to initiate the transition away from fossil energies. Here, support policies for renewable electricity are politically convenient because they face low resistance from fossil energies' interest groups. In the second stage, regulators need to adapt support policies for renewables to challenges arising along the transition pathway. We empirically substantiate our arguments by tracing the development of support policies in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Gawel & Sebastian Strunz & Paul Lehmann, 2016. "Support policies for renewables: Instrument choice and instrument change from a Public Choice perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-6, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2016-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2016-6.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Rogoff, 1985. "The Optimal Degree of Commitment to an Intermediate Monetary Target," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(4), pages 1169-1189.
    2. Gawel, Erik & Purkus, Alexandra, 2013. "Promoting the market and system integration of renewable energies through premium schemes: A case study of the German market premium," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2013, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & Pablo Querubin & James A. Robinson, 2008. "When Does Policy Reform Work? The Case of Central Bank Independence," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(1 (Spring), pages 351-429.
    4. Kalkuhl, Matthias & Edenhofer, Ottmar & Lessmann, Kai, 2012. "Learning or lock-in: Optimal technology policies to support mitigation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-23.
    5. Malte Hübner & Christoph M. Schmidt & Benjamin Weigert, 2012. "Energiepolitik: Erfolgreiche Energiewende nur im europäischen Kontext," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 13(4), pages 286-307, November.
    6. Dani Rodrik, 2014. "Green industrial policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 30(3), pages 469-491.
    7. Dani Rodrik, 1996. "Understanding Economic Policy Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 9-41, March.
    8. Kirchgassner, Gebhard & Schneider, Friedrich, 2003. "On the Political Economy of Environmental Policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 115(3-4), pages 369-396, June.
    9. Gawel, Erik & Strunz, Sebastian & Lehmann, Paul, 2014. "A public choice view on the climate and energy policy mix in the EU — How do the emissions trading scheme and support for renewable energies interact?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 175-182.
    10. Andy Stirling, 2014. "Transforming Power: social science and the politics of energy choices," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-03, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    11. Unruh, Gregory C., 2000. "Understanding carbon lock-in," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 817-830, October.
    12. Cameron Hepburn, 2006. "Regulation by Prices, Quantities, or Both: A Review of Instrument Choice," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 226-247, Summer.
    13. Dieter Helm, 2010. "Government failure, rent-seeking, and capture: the design of climate change policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(2), pages 182-196, Summer.
    14. Nordensvärd, Johan & Urban, Frauke, 2015. "The stuttering energy transition in Germany: Wind energy policy and feed-in tariff lock-in," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 156-165.
    15. Strunz, Sebastian, 2014. "The German energy transition as a regime shift," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 150-158.
    16. Avinash Dixit, 1992. "Investment and Hysteresis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 107-132, Winter.
    17. Geels, Frank W., 2002. "Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 1257-1274, December.
    18. Gawel, Erik & Purkus, Alexandra, 2013. "Promoting the market and system integration of renewable energies through premium schemes—A case study of the German market premium," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 599-609.
    19. Hoppmann, Joern & Huenteler, Joern & Girod, Bastien, 2014. "Compulsive policy-making—The evolution of the German feed-in tariff system for solar photovoltaic power," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1422-1441.
    20. Erik Gawel, 2014. "Eckpunkte zur EEG-Reform: Der Energiewende nächster Akt," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 94(2), pages 82-83, February.
    21. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2009. "The importance of comprehensiveness in renewable electricity and energy-efficiency policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1529-1541, April.
    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. Strunz, Sebastian & Gawel, Erik & Lehmann, Paul, 2016. "The political economy of renewable energy policies in Germany and the EU," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 33-41.
    2. Bernardo Alves Furtado & Gustavo Onofre Andre~ao, 2022. "Machine Learning Simulates Agent-Based Model Towards Policy," Papers 2203.02576, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    3. Bucksteeg, Michael, 2019. "Modelling the impact of geographical diversification of wind turbines on the required firm capacity in Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1476-1491.

    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. Erik Gawel & Sebastian Strunz & Paul Lehmann, 2016. "Support policies for renewables Instrument choice and instrument change from a Public Choice perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series 006, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Strunz, Sebastian & Gawel, Erik & Lehmann, Paul, 2016. "The political economy of renewable energy policies in Germany and the EU," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 33-41.
    3. Paul Lehmann & Patrik Söderholm, 2018. "Can Technology-Specific Deployment Policies Be Cost-Effective? The Case of Renewable Energy Support Schemes," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(2), pages 475-505, October.
    4. Florian Habermacher & Paul Lehmann, 2020. "Commitment Versus Discretion in Climate and Energy Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(1), pages 39-67, May.
    5. Gawel, Erik & Lehmann, Paul & Purkus, Alexandra & Söderholm, Patrik & Witte, Katherina, 2017. "Rationales for technology-specific RES support and their relevance for German policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 16-26.
    6. Kriechbaum, Michael & Posch, Alfred & Hauswiesner, Angelika, 2021. "Hype cycles during socio-technical transitions: The dynamics of collective expectations about renewable energy in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    7. Sijm, Jos & Lehmann, Paul & Chewpreecha, Unnada & Gawel, Erik & Mercure, Jean-Francois & Pollitt, Hector & Strunz, Sebastian, 2014. "EU climate and energy policy beyond 2020: Are additional targets and instruments for renewables economically reasonable?," UFZ Discussion Papers 3/2014, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    8. Gawel, Erik & Strunz, Sebastian & Lehmann, Paul, 2014. "A public choice view on the climate and energy policy mix in the EU — How do the emissions trading scheme and support for renewable energies interact?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 175-182.
    9. Herrmann, J.K. & Savin, I., 2017. "Optimal policy identification: Insights from the German electricity market," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 71-90.
    10. Wolfgang Buchholz & Jonas Frank & Hans-Dieter Karl & Johannes Pfeiffer & Karen Pittel & Ursula Triebswetter & Jochen Habermann & Wolfgang Mauch & Thomas Staudacher, 2012. "Die Zukunft der Energiemärkte: Ökonomische Analyse und Bewertung von Potenzialen und Handlungsmöglichkeiten," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 57, July.
    11. Florian Habermacher & Paul Lehmann, 2017. "Commitment vs. Discretion in Climate and Energy Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 6355, CESifo.
    12. Paul Lehmann & Jos Sijm & Erik Gawel & Sebastian Strunz & Unnada Chewpreecha & Jean-Francois Mercure & Hector Pollitt, 2019. "Addressing multiple externalities from electricity generation: a case for EU renewable energy policy beyond 2020?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 21(2), pages 255-283, April.
    13. Gawel, Erik & Lehmann, Paul & Purkus, Alexandra & Söderholm, Patrik & Witte, Katherina, 2016. "The rationales for technology-specific renewable energy support: Conceptual arguments and their relevance for Germany," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2016, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    14. Markard, Jochen & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2016. "Analysis of complementarities: Framework and examples from the energy transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 63-75.
    15. Köhrsen, Jens, 2018. "Exogenous shocks, social skill, and power: Urban energy transitions as social fields," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 307-315.
    16. Francesco Lamperti & Giovanni Dosi & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini & Alessandro Sapio, 2018. "And then he wasn't a she : Climate change and green transitions in an agent-based integrated assessment model," Working Papers hal-03443464, HAL.
    17. Phil Johnstone & Andy Stirling, 2015. "Comparing Nuclear Power Trajectories inGermany And the UK: From ‘Regimes’ to ‘Democracies’ in Sociotechnical Transitions and Discontinuities," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-18, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    18. Gawel, Erik & Strunz, Sebastian & Lehmann, Paul, 2014. "Wie viel Europa braucht die Energiewende?," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2014, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    19. Strunz, Sebastian & Schindler, Harry, 2018. "Identifying Barriers Toward a Post-growth Economy – A Political Economy View," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 68-77.
    20. Jin, Wei & Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2015. "Levelling the playing field: On the missing role of network externality in designing renewable energy technology deployment policies," Working Papers 249514, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2016-6. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.