Markets versus Regulation: The Efficiency and Distributional Impacts of U.S. Climate Policy Proposals

B-Tier
Journal: The Energy Journal
Year: 2014
Volume: 35
Issue: 1_suppl
Pages: 199-228

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Regulatory measures have proven the favored approach to climate change mitigation in the U.S., while market-based policies have gained little traction. Using a model that resolves the U.S. economy by region, income category, and sector-specific technology deployment opportunities, this paper studies the magnitude and distribution of economic impacts under regulatory versus market-based approaches. We quantify heterogeneity in the national response to regulatory policies, including a fuel economy standard and a clean or renewable electricity standard, and compare these to a cap-and-trade system targeting carbon dioxide or all greenhouse gases. We find that the regulatory policies substantially exceed the cost of a cap-and-trade system at the national level. We further show that the regulatory policies yield large cost disparities across regions and income groups, which are exaggerated by the difficulty of implementing revenue recycling provisions under regulatory policy designs.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:sae:enejou:v:35:y:2014:i:1_suppl:p:199-228
Journal Field
Energy
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29