TY  - JOUR
AU  - Knittel,Christopher R.
AU  - Sandler,Ryan
TI  - Carbon Prices and Automobile Greenhouse Gas Emissions:  The Extensive and Intensive Margins
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16482
PY  - 2010
Y2  - October 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16482
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16482.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Christopher R. Knittel
MIT Sloan School of Management
100 Main Street, E62-513
Cambridge, MA 02142
E-Mail: knittel@mit.edu

Ryan Sandler
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Mail Drop NJ-4136
Washington DC, 20580
E-Mail: rsandler@ftc.gov
M3  - presented at "The Design & Implementation of US Climate Policy", May 13-14, 2010
AB  - The transportation sector accounts for nearly one third of the United States' greenhouse gas emissions. While over the past number of decades, policy makers have avoided directly pricing the externalities from vehicles, both in terms of global and more local pollutants and Corporate Average Fuel Standards have changed little since the mid-1980s, there is now considerable interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions form the transportation sector. Many have argued that the unique features of the sector imply that pricing mechanisms would have little affect on emissions.  This paper analyzes how pricing carbon through either a cap and trade system or carbon tax might affect greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector by estimating how changes in gasoline prices alter consumer behavior. We analyze their effect on both the intensive (e.g., vehicle miles travelled) and extensive (e.g., vehicle scrapping) margins. We find large effects on both margins.
ER  -