Automobile Fuel Economy Standards: Impacts, Efficiency, and Alternatives

31 Pages Posted: 20 Sep 2010 Last revised: 26 Mar 2023

See all articles by Soren Anderson

Soren Anderson

Michigan State University - Department of Economics; Michigan State University - Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Carolyn Fischer

University of Ottawa - Department of Economics; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Ian W. H. Parry

Resources for the Future

James Sallee

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 2010

Abstract

This paper discusses fuel economy regulations in the United States and other countries. We first describe how these programs affect the automobile market, including their impacts on fuel use and other dimensions of the vehicle fleet. We then review different methodologies for assessing the costs of fuel economy regulations and discuss what the results of these methodologies imply for policy. Following that, we compare the welfare effects of fuel economy regulations to those of fuel taxes and assess whether or not these two policies can be complements. Finally, we review arguments for transitioning away from fuel economy regulations towards a "feebate" system.

Suggested Citation

Anderson, Soren T. and Fischer, Carolyn and Fischer, Carolyn and Parry, Ian W. H. and Sallee, James, Automobile Fuel Economy Standards: Impacts, Efficiency, and Alternatives (September 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w16370, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1678913

Soren T. Anderson (Contact Author)

Michigan State University - Department of Economics ( email )

East Lansing, MI 48824
United States

Michigan State University - Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics ( email )

East Lansing, MI 48824
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Carolyn Fischer

University of Ottawa - Department of Economics ( email )

Social Sciences Building Room 9005
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Canada

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
1081HV Amsterdam
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/carolyn-fischer

Ian W. H. Parry

Resources for the Future ( email )

1616 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
United States
202-328-5151 (Phone)
202-939-3460 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.rff.org/~parry

James Sallee

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor ( email )

500 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
46
Abstract Views
1,701
PlumX Metrics