A CBO STUDY: The Economic Costs of Fuel Economy Standards Versus a Gasoline Tax

A CBO STUDY: The Economic Costs of Fuel Economy Standards Versus a Gasoline Tax
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2003
Genre:
ISBN:

Some Members of Congress and public interest groups have recently proposed raising the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for automobiles. Proponents of CAFE standards see them as a way to decrease the United States' dependence on oil and its emissions of carbon dioxide (the predominant greenhouse gas). In this study, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the costs that raising CAFE standards would impose on automobile producers and consumers. This study also extends previous research by examining the potential cost savings from instituting a system in which producers could trade "fuel economy credits." Under that system, producers with high costs of complying with CAFE standards could meet the new standards by applying credits bought from producers that exceeded the standards. CBO also compares the costs of CAFE standards with those of a higher gasoline tax, an alternative policy for reducing gasoline consumption. Finally, CBO examines the available evidence on whether changing CAFE standards or the gasoline tax could improve social welfare, a general measure of society's well-being that includes not only the value derived from the goods and services that people consume but also factors that diminish the quality of life, such as pollution and traffic congestion.

Vehicle Fuel Economy

Vehicle Fuel Economy
Author: United States. Government Accountability Office
Publisher:
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2007
Genre: Automobile industry and trade
ISBN:

Corporate Average Fuel Economy and the Market for New Vehicles

Corporate Average Fuel Economy and the Market for New Vehicles
Author: Thomas Klier
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2011-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1437987842

Presents an overview of the economics literature on the effect of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on the new vehicle market. Since 1978, CAFE has imposed fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. market. This paper reviews the history of the standards, followed by a discussion of the major upcoming changes in implementation and stringency. It describes strategies that firms can use to meet the standards and reviews the CAFE literature as it applies to the new vehicle market. The paper concludes by highlighting areas for future research in light of the upcoming changes to CAFE. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find report.

Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards

Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2002-01-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309170567

Since CAFE standards were established 25 years ago, there have been significant changes in motor vehicle technology, globalization of the industry, the mix and characteristics of vehicle sales, production capacity, and other factors. This volume evaluates the implications of these changes as well as changes anticipated in the next few years, on the need for CAFE, as well as the stringency and/or structure of the CAFE program in future years.

Reducing Gasoline Consumption

Reducing Gasoline Consumption
Author: Terry Dinan
Publisher: Nova Biomedical Books
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Several Members of Congress and public interest groups have recently proposed policies that would reduce gasoline consumption in the United States. Such proposals stem primarily from a desire to enhance the nation's energy security and to decrease its emissions of carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas that affects the Earth's climate. This book compares three methods of reducing gasoline consumption: increasing the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards that govern passenger vehicles, raising the federal tax on gasoline, and setting a limit on carbon emissions from gasoline combustion and requiring gasoline producers to hold allowances for those emissions (a policy known as a cap-and-trade program). Also, the book weighs the relative merits of those policies against several major criteria: whether they would minimise costs to producers and consumers; how reliably they would achieve a given reduction in gasoline use; their implications for automobile safety; and their effects on such factors as traffic congestion, requirements for highway construction, and emissions of air pollutants other than carbon dioxide. In addition, the book examines two more policy implications that lawmakers may be concerned about: the impact on people at different income levels and in different regions, and the effects on federal revenue.