Klima- und Energiepolitik in Deutschland

Hintergrundinformationen und Handlungsempfehlungen für eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung der Energiewende. - Die in Deutschland im Zuge der Energiewende eingeführten bzw. intensivierten politischen Maßnahmen (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz - EEG) haben vorwiegend die verstärkte Nutzung der erneuerbaren Energien und die effizientere Nutzung von Energie zum Ziel. Damit geht nicht nur eine technologische Transformation des Energiesystems auf allen Ebenen der Energiebereitstellung und des Verbrauchs einher, sondern vielfach auch eine Verteuerung des Energiekonsums. Das RWI hat daher Reformvorschläge für eine effiziente und nachhaltige Energiepolitik erarbeitet

Optimal Renewable-Energy Subsidies

We derive optimal subsidization of renewable energies in electricity markets. The analysis takes into account that capacity investment must be chosen under uncertainty about demand conditions and capacity availability, and that capacity as well as electricity generation may be sources of externalities. The main result is that generation subsidies should correspond to externalities of electricity generation (e.g., greenhouse gas reductions), and investment subsidies should correspond to externalities of capacity (e.g., learning spillovers). If only capacity externalities exist, then electricity generation should not be subsidized at all. Our results suggest that some of the most popular promotion instruments are likely to cause welfare losses.In diesem Artikel leiten wir optimale Subventionen für erneuerbare Energien im Elektrizitätsmarkt her. Die Analyse berücksichtigt sowohl, dass Entscheidungen über Kapazitätsinvestitionen unter Unsicherheit über die Nachfrage und die Verfügbarkeit der Kapazität getroffen werden müssen, als auch, dass sowohl die Kapazität selbst als auch die Erzeugung von Strom externe Effekte haben können. Das wichtigste Ergebnis ist, dass Subventionen, die die Produktion subventionieren, den Externalitäten der Stromerzeugung (wie z.B. der Reduzierung von Treibhausgasen) und Investitionssubventionen den Externalitäten der Kapazität (bspw. öffentlichen Lernkurveneffekten) entsprechen sollten. Falls nur Externalitäten der Kapazität vorliegen, sollte die Stromerzeugung überhaupt nicht subventioniert werden. Unsere Ergebnisse legen daher nahe, dass einige der populärsten Förderinstrumente vermutlich Wohlfahrtsverluste verursachen

Optimal renewable-energy subsidies

We derive optimal subsidization of renewable energies in electricity markets. The analysis takes into account that capacity investment must be chosen under uncertainty about demand conditions and capacity availability, and that capacity as well as electricity generation may be sources of externalities. The main result is that generation subsidies should correspond to externalities of electricity generation (e.g., greenhouse gas reductions), and investment subsidies should correspond to externalities of capacity (e.g., learning spillovers). If only capacity externalities exist, then electricity generation should not be subsidized at all. Our results suggest that some of the most popular promotion instruments cause welfare losses

The StoNED age: The Departure Into a New Era of Efficiency Analysis? A MC Study Comparing StoNED and the "Oldies" (SFA and DEA)

Based on the seminal paper of Farrell (1957), researchers have developed several methods for measuring e fficiency. Nowadays, the most prominent representatives are nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) and parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), both introduced in the late 1970s. Researchers have been attempting to develop a method which combines the virtues -- both nonparametric and stochastic -- of these "oldies". The recently introduced stochastic non-smooth envelopment of data (StoNED) by Kuosmanen and Kortelainen (2010) is such a promising method. This paper compares the StoNED method with the two "oldies" DEA and SFA and extends the initial Monte Carlo simulation of Kuosmanen and Kortelainen (2010) in several directions. We show, among others, that, in scenarios without noise, the rivalry is still between the "oldies", while in noisy scenarios, the nonparametric StoNED PL now constitutes a promising alternative to the SFA ML

Pseudolikelihood estimation of the stochastic frontier model

Stochastic frontier analysis is a popular tool to assess firm performance. Almost universally it has been applied using maximum likelihood estimation. An alternative approach, pseudolikelihood estimation, which decouples estimation of the error component structure and the production frontier, has been adopted in several advanced settings. To date, no formal comparison has yet to be conducted comparing these methods in a standard, parametric cross sectional framework. We seek to produce a comparison of these two competing methods using Monte Carlo simulations. Our results indicate that pseudolikelihood estimation enjoys almost identical performance to maximum likelihood estimation across a range of scenarios, and out performs maximum likelihood estimation in settings where the distribution of inefficiency is incorrectly specified

A Monte Carlo simulation comparing DEA, SFA and two simple approaches to combine efficiency estimates

In certain circumstances, both researchers and policy makers are faced with the challenge of determining individual efficiency scores for each decision making unit (DMU) under consideration. In this study, we use a Monte Carlo experimentation to analyze the optimal approach to determining individual efficiency scores. Our first research objective is a systematic comparison of the two most popular estimation methods, data envelopment (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Accordingly we extend the existing comparisons in several ways. We are thus able to identify the factors which influence the performance of the methods and give additional information about the reasons for performance variation. Furthermore, we indicate specific situations in which an estimation technique proves superior. As none of the methods is in all respects superior, in real word applications, such as energy incentive regulation systems, it is regarded as best-practice to combine the estimates obtained from DEA and SFA. Hence in a second step, we compare the approaches to transforming the estimates into efficiency scores, with the elementary estimates of the two methods. Our results demonstrate that combination approaches can actually constitute best-practice for estimating precise efficiency scores

The StoNED age: The departure into a new era of efficiency analysis? An MC study comparing StoNED and the "oldies" (SFA and DEA)

Based on the seminal paper of Farrell (1957), researchers have developed several methods for measuring efficiency. Nowadays, the most prominent representatives are nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) and parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), both introduced in the late 1970s. Since decades, researchers have been attempting to develop a method which combines the virtues - both nonparametric and stochastic - of these oldies. The recently introduced Stochastic non-smooth envelopment of data (StoNED) by Kuosmanen and Kortelainen (2010) is a promising method. This paper compares the StoNED method with the two oldies DEA and SFA and extends the initial Monte Carlo simulation of Kuosmanen and Kortelainen (2010) in two directions. Firstly, we consider a wider range of conditions. Secondly, we also consider the maximum likelihood estimator (ML) and the pseudolikelihood estimator (PL) for SFA and StoNED, respectively. We show that, in scenarios without noise, the rivalry is still between the oldies, while in noisy scenarios, the nonparametric StoNED PL now constitutes a promising alternative to the SFA ML

Behavioral economics and energy conservation - a systematic review of nonprice interventions and their causal effects

Research from economics and psychology suggests that behavioral interventions can be a powerful climate policy instrument. This paper provides a systematic review of the existing empirical evidence on non-price interventions targeting energy conservation behavior of private households. Specifically, we analyze the four nudge-like interventions referred to as social comparison, pre-commitment, goal setting and labeling in 38 international studies comprising 91 treatments. This paper differs from previous systematic reviews by solely focusing on studies that permit the identification of causal effects. We find that all four interventions have the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption of private households, yet effect sizes vary immensely. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of impact evaluations before rolling out behavioral policy interventions at scale

Natural disasters and governmental aid : is there a charity hazard?

In the aftermath of natural disasters, governments frequently provide financial aid for affected households. This policy can have adverse effects if individuals anticipate it and forgo private precaution measures. While theoretical literature unequivocally suggests this so called “charity hazard”, empirical studies yield ambiguous results. Drawing on rich survey data from German homeowners, we analyze charity hazard for different flood precaution strategies, namely insurance uptake and non-financial protection measures, and different flood risk areas. Our results indicate a substantial charity hazard in the insurance market for individuals residing in flood-prone areas. In contrast, we find a positive correlation between governmental aid and non-financial protection measures. Moreover, our results suggest that insurance and non-financial protection measures are rather complements than substitutes. Finally, we provide suggestive evidence that status-quo bias might play an important role for insurance uptake

Consumer inattention, heuristic thinking and the role of energy labels

Energy labels have been introduced in many countries to increase consumers’ attention to energy use in purchase decisions of durables. In a discrete-choice experiment among about 5,000 households, we implement randomized information treatments to explore the effects of various kinds of energy labels on purchasing decisions. Our results show that adding annual operating cost information to the EU energy label promotes the choice of energy-efficient durables. In addition, we find that a majority of participants value efficiency classes beyond the economic value of the underlying energy use differences. Our results further indicate that displaying operating cost affects choices through two distinct channels: it increases the attention to operating cost and reduces the valuation of efficiency class differences