Willingness to pay and political support for a US national clean energy standard
By Joseph E. Aldy, Matthew J. Kotchen, Anthony Leiserowitz. 2012
126 citations recorded by the source corpus.
In 2010 and 2011, Republicans and Democrats proposed mandating clean power generation in the electricity sector. To evaluate public support for a national clean energy standard (NCES), we conducted a nationally representative survey that included randomized treatments on the sources of eligible power generation and program costs. We find that the average American is willing to pay $162 per year in higher electricity bills (95% confidence interval: $128-$260), representing a 13% increase [4], in support of a NCES that requires 80% clean energy by 2035. Support for a NCES is lower among non-whites, older individuals, and Republicans. We also employ our statistical model, along with census data for each state and Congressional district [5], to simulate voting behavior on a NCES by Members of Congress assuming they vote consistent with the preferences of their median voter. We estimate that Senate passage of a NCES would require an average household cost below $59 per year, while House passage would require costs below $48 per year. The results imply that an “80% by 2035†NCES could pass both chambers of Congress if it increases electricity rates less than 5% on average.
Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e202e88b4a60fe7cac51f1f96e1270c8ea62132e
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Economics and Econometrics
- L. Steg
- M. Mildenberger
- Eleni-Christina Gkampoura
- Anthony Leiserowitz
- Chunbo Ma
- G. Perlaviciute
- George Emm. Halkos
- Muhammad Shahbaz
In Sociology and Political Science
- G. Perlaviciute
- Anthony Leiserowitz
- L. Steg
- M. Mildenberger
- George Emm. Halkos
- S. van der Linden
- R. Gifford
- J. D. de Groot
Citations in the corpus
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- Public opinion on climate change: Is there an economy–environment tradeoff? (2017, background): “For example, emphasizing policy costs decreases support for renewable energy policies (Aldy et al. 2012, Aklin and Urpelainen 2013, Ansolabehere and Konisky 2014) and international environmental agreements (Bechtel and Scheve 2013).”
- Reviewing Usage, Potentials, and Limitations of Renewable Energy Sources (2020, background): “For the United States, it has been calculated that the average consumer is willing to pay $162/year (13% increase in their electricity bill) in order to support a national clean energy standard (NCES) that requires 80% of clean energy by 2035 [50].”
- Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy: A Meta-Regression Analysis (2015, background): “…Working Paper 9 17 Hanemann et al. 2011 Spain Climate Research 1 18 Komarek et al. 2011 USA Energy Policy 9 19 Odam 2011 Scotland PhD Thesis 6 20 Aldy et al. 2012 USA Nature Climate Change 1 21 Aravena et al. 2012 Chile Energy Economics 4 22 Cicia et al. 2012 Italy Energy Policy 9 23 Gracia…”