TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fischer, Carolyn
AU  - Pizer, William A
TI  - Horizontal Equity Effects in Energy Regulation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 24033
PY  - 2017
Y2  - November 2017
DO  - 10.3386/w24033
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w24033
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w24033.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Carolyn Fischer
Resources for the Future
1616 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
E-Mail: fischer@rff.org

William A. Pizer
Sanford School of Public Policy
Duke University
Box 90312
Durham, NC 27708
Tel: 919/613-9286
Fax: 877/240-9880
E-Mail: billy.pizer@duke.edu
M1  - published as Carolyn Fischer, William A. Pizer. "Horizontal Equity Effects in Energy Regulation," in Tatyana Deryugina, Don Fullerton, and Billy Pizer, organizers, "Energy Policy Tradeoffs between Economic Efficiency and Distributional Equity" Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, volume 6, number S1 (University of Chicago Press) (2019)

AB  - Choices in energy regulation, particularly whether and how to price externalities, can have widely different distributional consequences both across and within income groups. Traditional welfare theory focuses largely on effects across income groups; such “vertical equity” concerns can typically be addressed by a progressive redistribution of emissions revenues. In this paper, we review alternative economic perspectives that give rise to equity concerns within income groups, or “horizontal equity,” and suggest operational measures. We then apply those measures to a stylized model of pollution regulation in the electricity sector. In addition, we look for ways to present the information behind those measures directly to stakeholders. We show how horizontal equity concerns might overshadow efficiency concerns in this context.
ER  -