American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Consumers' Response to State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Programs
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 9,
no. 4, November 2017
(pp. 227–55)
Abstract
Through an evaluation of the 2009 Recovery Act's State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, this paper examines consumers' response to energy efficiency rebates. The analysis shows that 70 percent of consumers claiming a rebate were inframarginal and an additional 15 percent-20 percent of consumers simply delayed their purchases by a few weeks. Consumers responded to rebates by upgrading to higher quality, but less energy-efficient models. Overall the impact of the program on long-term energy demand is likely to be small. Measures of government expenditure per unit of energy saved are an order of magnitude higher than estimates for other energy efficiency programs.Citation
Houde, Sébastien, and Joseph E. Aldy. 2017. "Consumers' Response to State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Programs." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 9 (4): 227–55. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20140383Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- H31 Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
- H71 State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
- Q48 Energy: Government Policy