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The success of market deregulation in low- and middle-income countries depends on the strength of price and non-price competition between firms. In this paper, we study the recently deregulated retail gasoline market in Mexico. During our sample period, nearly 650 new gasoline stations entered the market. We estimate the causal effect of entry on the prices and quality of incumbent firms. We find that the entry of a nearby station decreases markups by nearly 4% for regular gasoline and about 2% for premium gasoline and diesel. We validate these results using the structure of ownership in the market, showing near zero impacts when the incumbent and entrant have the same owner. In addition, we show that the effect of competition on markups attenuates with distance and driving time. We find no evidence that entry affects the quality of existing stations, as measured by online ratings and regulatory inspections.

This paper provides the first empirical analysis of the homeowner-renter gap for electric appliances. Using U.S. nationally representative data, the analysis shows that renters are significantly more likely than homeowners to have electric heat, electric hot water heating, an electric stove, and an electric dryer. The gap is highly statistically significant, prevalent across regions, and holds after controlling for the type, size, and age of the home, as well as for climate and household characteristics. The paper argues that this gap arises from the same split incentives that lead to the 'landlord-tenant problem' and discusses the implications of the gap for an emerging set of policies aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions through building electrification. Keywords: Electrification mandates, Natural gas bans, Electric-preferred building codes, Landlord-tenant problem, Principal-agent problem, Split incentives, 1. INTRODUCTION There is a growing consensus that building electrification will play a crucial role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Several recent large-scale studies of the United States, for example, [...]

Despite increasing calls for reform many countries continue to provide subsidies for gasoline and diesel. This paper quantifies the external costs from global fuel subsidies using the latest available data and estimates from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Under preferred assumptions about supply and demand elasticities, current subsidies cause $44 billion in external costs annually. This includes $8 billion from carbon dioxide emissions, $7 billion from local pollutants, $12 billion from traffic congestion, and $17 billion from accidents. These external costs are in addition to conventional deadweight loss, estimated to be $26 billion annually. Government incentives for alternative fuel vehicles are unlikely to cost-effectively reduce these externalities as they do little to address traffic congestion or accidents and only indirectly address carbon dioxide and local pollutants.

Policymakers around the world are turning to license-plate based driving restrictions in an effort to address urban air pollution. The format differs across cities, but most programs restrict driving once or twice a week during weekdays. This paper focuses on Mexico City, home to one of the oldest and best-known driving restriction policies. For almost two decades Mexico City's driving restrictions applied during weekdays only. This changed recently, however, when the program was expanded to include Saturdays. This paper uses hourly data from pollution monitoring stations to measure the effect of the Saturday expansion on air quality. Overall, there is little evidence that the program expansion improved air quality. Across eight major pollutants, the program expansion had virtually no discernible effect on pollution levels. These disappointing results stand in sharp contrast to estimates made before the expansion which predicted a 15%+ decrease in vehicle emissions on Saturdays. To understand why the program has been less effective than expected, the paper then turns to evidence from subway, bus, and light rail ridership, finding no evidence that the expansion was successful in getting drivers to switch to lower-emitting forms of transportation.

This paper examines a large-scale appliance replacement program in Mexico that since 2009 has helped 1.5 million households replace their old refrigerators and air-conditioners with energy-efficient models. Using household-level electric billing records from the population of Mexican residential customers we find that refrigerator replacement reduces electricity consumption by an average of 11 kilowatt hours per month, about a 7% decrease. We find that air conditioning replacement, in contrast, increases electricity consumption by an average of 6 kilowatt hours per month, with larger increases during the summer. To put these results in context we present a simple conceptual framework in which energy-efficient durable goods cost less to operate, so households use them more. This behavioral response, sometimes called the “rebound” effect, is important for air-conditioners, but not important for refrigerators.

Previous studies of trade and the environment overwhelmingly focus on how trade affects where goods are produced. However, trade also affects where goods are consumed. In this paper we describe a model of trade with durable goods and non‐homothetic preferences. In autarky, lowquality (used) goods are relatively inexpensive in high‐income countries and free trade causes these goods to be exported to low‐income countries. We then evaluate the environmental consequences of this pattern of trade using evidence from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since trade restrictions were eliminated for used cars in 2005, over 2.5 million used cars have been exported from the United States to Mexico. Using a unique, vehicle‐level dataset, we find that traded vehicles are dirtier than the stock of vehicles in the United States and cleaner than the stock in Mexico, so trade leads average vehicle emissions to decrease in both countries. Total greenhouse gas emissions increase, primarily because trade gives new life to vehicles that otherwise would have been scrapped.

This paper uses U.S. nationally representative data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey to present a series of facts about electric vehicles (EVs) in multi-vehicle households. First, as of the time of the survey, 89% of households with an EV also had a non-electric vehicle in addition to the EV. Second, 60% of households with an EV also had a non-electric SUV, truck, or minivan. Third, 66% of households with an EV also had a non-electric vehicle that was driven more miles per year. The paper argues that these patterns have significant implications for the environmental impact of EVs and underscore the importance of better understanding how multi-vehicle households substitute between vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]