The Obama administration’s focus on fuel economy standardsis less effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissionscompared to an oil tax

摘要

In recent years, part of the Obama administration strategy for reducing greenhouse gasudemissions has been to increase fuel economy standards for new cars and light trucks. In newudresearch Eric O’Rear examines the economic impacts of these new standards, compared withudthe introduction of an oil tax. He finds that stronger fuel economy regulations will not only burdenudthe economy with the added costs of investment in more energy-efficient vehicles, but that theyudare also less economically efficient, and will result in smaller reductions in carbon emissions andudnet oil imports compared to an oil tax.