Suchergebnisse

AbstractWe study the connection between the demographic transition to an aging population and global climate policy ambition in the outcomes from recent international agreements on climate change: We test whether the share of the elderly in a population is a significant determinant of the quantity and ambition of a country's policy actions against climate change. We use different indicators of climate policy ambition as measured by the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of the Paris Agreement as updated in the Glasgow Climate Pact. We also use the number of climate change laws passed in a country to further test robustness of main results. We resort to instrumental variables as part of our identification strategy to account for potential endogeneity. Our econometric results indicate a negative association between the share of the elderly and both policy ambition in climate agreements and the intensity of regulatory initiatives to fight climate change. This suggests that the increasing political influence of the older population as a consequence of aging hinders climate policy ambition. Policy implications are discussed.

Abstract
The global energy mix and cost structure of the power industry are experiencing a redefinition. Many countries are revamping electricity-pricing systems to guarantee fixed-cost recovery, often by raising the fixed charge of two-part tariff schemes. However, a key assumption of two-part tariff schemes and associated fixed-cost recoveries is that consumers discriminate fixed from marginal costs. We conduct a quasi-experiment with data from a major electricity price reform recently implemented in Spain and find robust evidence indicating that consumers fail to distinguish between fixed and marginal costs. As a result, policymakers are not achieving the goal of cost recovery.

AbstractWe exploit a fuel tax increase in Portugal to identify its effect on cross-border fuel sales and associated carbon leakage in the Spanish border regions. Using a difference-in-difference strategy, we find that while gasoline sales remained unaffected, diesel sales in Spanish border regions increased by 6–9%. Synthetic control methods confirm these estimates and attribute this differential effect by fuel type to routes frequented by heavy-duty vehicles, with large diesel tanks. We estimate a carbon leakage equivalent to 14–20% of Portugal's annual mitigation commitment for road transport emissions. Our findings imply that heavy goods vehicles' strategic behavior undermines the potential mitigation effects and revenue gains of transport climate policy, underscoring the need for coordinated policies in similar federal or quasi-federal contexts.