Regulating Untaxable Externalities: Are Vehicle Air Pollution Standards Effective and Efficient?

IF 11.1 1区 经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS Quarterly Journal of Economics Pub Date : 2023-03-17 DOI:10.1093/qje/qjad016
Mark R Jacobsen, James M Sallee, Joseph S Shapiro, Arthur A Van Benthem
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Abstract The world has 1.4 billion passenger vehicles. How should governments regulate their air pollution emissions? A Pigouvian tax is technologically infeasible. Most countries instead rely on exhaust standards that limit air pollution emissions per mile for new vehicles. We assess the effectiveness and efficiency of these standards, which are the centerpiece of U.S. Clean Air Act regulation of transportation, and counterfactual policies. We show that the air pollution emissions per mile of new U.S. vehicles has fallen spectacularly, by over 99%, since standards began in 1967. Several research designs with a half century of data suggest that exhaust standards have caused most of this decline. Yet exhaust standards are not cost-effective in part because they fail to encourage scrap of older vehicles, which account for the majority of emissions. To study counterfactual policies, we develop an analytical and a quantitative model of the vehicle fleet. Analysis of these models suggests that tighter exhaust standards increase social welfare and increasing registration fees on dirty vehicles yields even larger gains by accelerating scrap, although both reforms have complex effects on inequality.
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管制不应课税的外部性:车辆空气污染标准是否有效?
世界上有14亿辆乘用车。政府应如何管制空气污染排放?庇古税在技术上是不可行的。相反,大多数国家依赖于限制新车每英里空气污染排放量的排放标准。我们评估了这些标准的有效性和效率,这些标准是美国《清洁空气法》对交通运输和反事实政策监管的核心。我们的研究表明,自1967年开始实施标准以来,美国新车每英里的空气污染排放量已经显著下降了99%以上。几项基于半个世纪数据的研究设计表明,废气排放标准是造成这种下降的主要原因。然而,废气排放标准并不具有成本效益,部分原因是它们未能鼓励报废旧车,而旧车是排放的主要来源。为了研究反事实政策,我们开发了一个车队的分析和定量模型。对这些模型的分析表明,更严格的尾气排放标准会增加社会福利,而提高污染车辆的注册费会加速报废,从而产生更大的收益,尽管这两项改革对不平等都有复杂的影响。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
24.20
自引率
2.20%
发文量
42
期刊介绍: The Quarterly Journal of Economics stands as the oldest professional journal of economics in the English language. Published under the editorial guidance of Harvard University's Department of Economics, it comprehensively covers all aspects of the field. Esteemed by professional and academic economists as well as students worldwide, QJE holds unparalleled value in the economic discourse.
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