This study contributes to the literature on whether financial development stimulates technical energy efficiency (TEE) or not, by addressing core biases that creep into the relationship and thereby reducing the ability to draw causal inferences from financial development to TEE. Our approach is based on the instrumental stochastic frontier technique, where biases in the frontier and inefficiency equations are dealt with using external instrumental variables. The legal system origin of the country and life expectancy at birth were used as instruments for financial development and income, respectively. The current study demonstrates substantial bias in income elasticity, the estimate of energy efficiency, and the effect of financial development on energy efficiency. Both income elasticity and energy efficiency estimate risk upward bias. Equally, the effect of financial system development and financial institution development on TEE risk downward bias. Other results show that all aspects of financial institution development stimulate TEE, but access to financial institutions is more important. These results raise caution about future studies' estimates of the effect of financial development on TEE. Though this study has demonstrated the potency of external instruments in dealing with the bias in the coefficient estimates, we consider this might prove to be a luxury solution in some cases due to data limitation, context differences, and theory. In those circumstances, reliance on internal instruments might prove to be the second-best option.

A gasoline subsidy is one of the most prevalent strategies for distributing welfare to the people in oil-producing countries. However well-intentioned, the policy will distort the gasoline market with the resulting inefficiencies. Furthermore, the gasoline subsidy takes a great amount of government's budget. Arguably, these funds could be spent elsewhere with a greater impact on economic growth. These governments are aware of the cost of such a policy, yet face difficulties in removing the policy because of strong resistance from the public. This paper looks at the unique case of Indonesia that only provides a subsidy for regular gasoline and in turn proposes an alternative policy that introduces a subsidy for premium gasoline at a lower rate to reduce the overall gasoline subsidy cost. There has yet to be any research that simulates price controls for gasoline with different grades. The aggregate demand for gasoline in Indonesia is replicated using a translog cost calibration approach. Simulations based on the calibrated demand are then performed and the results confirm the existence of potential savings that are largely determined by the cross-price elasticities between regular and premium gasoline. The benchmark scenario, based on a recent study of substitutability between gasoline by grades, results in an 11.5% reduction in subsidy cost of around 950 million USD with a subsidy rate of Rp 2254/liter. Furthermore, the optimal rate of subsidy for premium gasoline results in a reduction of inefficiency as consumers' welfare increase by 6.8 trillion rupiahs (or 560 million USD).

This article examines the effect of commercial bank performance on an indicator of energy efficiency (i.e. energy intensity) while controlling for the mediating effect of political institution. To achieve this goal, the study develops a theoretical model based on the neoclassical theory of the firm that links energy efficiency to bank sector development, and a unique bank-based data by Andrianova et al. (2015) for 43 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1998 to 2012. The principal component analysis is used to derive a composite bank-based development index from different bank balance sheet performance indicators- return on asset, asset quality, bank capitalization, managerial inefficiency and financial stability. The two-stage system generalized method of moment (Sys-GMM) technique was used. The results reveal that, both in the short- and long-run, improved banking performance fosters energy efficiency improvements in sub-Saharan Africa, but this is compromised by democracy (institutional quality). Thus, to achieve energy efficiency improvements, specific initiatives should be implemented to boost the development of the banking sector while also ensuring that democratic governance in the sub-region weans itself off things that impede the progress of the real sector. More ambitiously, creating a Green Bank may be necessary to stimulate energy efficiency investments in the sub-region.

The overall objective of the paper is to analyze convergence of CO2 emission intensity across manufacturing sectors in Sweden. Our approach differs from previous work on carbon convergence in that it employs a theoretical framework to construct a CO2 performance index, which explicitly takes into account that industrial firms produce good as well as bad outputs. This index is then used as the dependent variable in a growth-type regression equation. We employ a data set covering 14 industrial sectors over the time period 1990–2008. The results suggest the presence of conditional β-convergence in CO2 performance among the industrial sectors in Sweden. Moreover, the speed of convergence varies significantly in the sense that the higher the capital intensity is, the lower is the convergence rate to the different steady states. This is likely to reflect the importance of – and in part the costs associated with – capital turnover to achieve a transition towards lower CO2 emission paths.

How to reduce the carbon footprint associated with energy use is still a major concern for most decision-makers. Against this background, a better understanding of energy intensity—the ratio of energy use to output and its convergence could be important in the design of policies targeting the reduction in the carbon footprint related to energy use. This paper analyzes the determinants of energy intensity and tests for energy intensity convergence across 14 Swedish industrial sectors. This analysis builds on a nonparametric regression analysis of an intensity index constructed at the industry sector level as well as indices constructed from a decomposition of this index. The latter isolates two key determinants of changes in energy intensity and convergence patterns: the efficiency channel-fundamental improvement in the use of energy and activity channel-structural shifts in the economy. The empirical analysis relies on a detailed sectorial dataset covering the period 1990–2008. The findings indicate that input prices, including the price of energy, have been significant determinants of energy intensity in the Swedish industrial sectors. This effect can primarily be attributed to the efficiency channel and with a less profound influence from the activity channel. We also find evidence of energy intensity convergence among the industrial sectors, and this primarily stems from the activity channel rather than from the efficiency channel.

In energy system models endogenous technological change can be introduced by implement-ting so-called technology learning rates specifying the quantitative relationship between the cumulative experience of a technology and its cost. The objectives of this paper are to: (a) provide a conceptual review of learning curve model specifications; and (b) conduct a meta-analysis of wind power learning rates. This permits an assessment of a number of important specification and data issues that influence these learning rates. The econometric analysis builds on 113 estimates of the learning-by-doing rate presented in 35 studies. The meta-analy-sis indicates that the choice of the geographical domain of learning, and thus the assumed presence of learning spillovers, is an important determinant of wind power learning rates. We also find that the use of extended learning curve concepts, e.g., integrating public R&D effects, appears to result in lower learning rates than those generated by so-called single-factor learning curve studies. Overall the empirical findings suggest that future studies should pay increased attention to the issue of learning and knowledge spillovers in the renewable energy field, as well as to the interaction between technology learning and R&D efforts.

This study empirically estimated disaggregate market transaction costs facing single-family house-owners when energy renovating their dwelling. Two types of energy renovations are analysed: heat insulation and energy-saving windows. An analytical framework was developed including an adjustment mechanism for time-biases displayed by households. The decision process was modelling in three steps where households can be either latent, potential or actual clients to an energy renovation project. Data was collected by web-based surveys. The transaction costs are estimated based on time assessment, income levels and monetary expenditures occurring in the decision process. The results suggest that the magnitude of the transaction costs can be an important barrier to energy renovations. For energy-saving windows, transaction costs can constitute more than 50% of the investment cost, and almost 24% for heat insulation. The largest potential reduction in the transaction costs is found in the implementation phase.

This paper contributes to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) literature, which posits an inverted U-shaped relationship between pollution and income, but from a spatial perspective. We explore several spatial statistical and econometric analyses to account for spatial dependence in emissions from carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter (2.5 and 10) and total suspended particulates between all 290 Swedish municipalities. Our results suggest the EKC significantly holds for all but one pollutant (i.e. carbon monoxide) and that this relationship is significantly characterized by spatial dependence. Specifically, we find significant neighbourhood effects as well as significant positive economic spillovers at low income which turns negative at high income on both within and inter-municipality air emissions. Our results and hence implications suggest transboundary pollution control policies aimed at abatement would be more effective through enhanced coordination between adjacent municipalities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze: (a) the role and the nature of price-induced switching behavior between fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas) in the western European power sector; as well as (b) the fuel choice impacts of a number of public policies implemented in this sector during the last 20 years. The analysis is conducted within a Generalized Leontief cost function framework, and employs pooled data across eight countries over the time period 1978–2004. We present short-run own- and cross-price elasticities of fossil fuel demand, and assess the impacts of a set of government policies implemented over this time period. The empirical results show evidence of notable short-run interfuel substitution between oil and gas, and particularly in countries where fossil fuels are used extensively for both base and peak load purposes. These findings support the notion that ex post fossil fuel substitution takes place in dual- and multi-fired plants, by switching load between different single-fuel fired plants, as well as through the conversion of power plants to be able to burn alternate fuels. The results also illustrate that different public policies – i.e., removal of coal subsidies, electricity market liberalization etc. – have had profound impacts on fossil fuel choices and have in particular favored power generation gas use at the expense of coal. Finally, the paper makes use of the empirical results to simulate the fuel switching impacts of different carbon prices within the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

This paper analyzes short-run interfuel substitution in west European power generation, and the impact of system load factors on fossil fuel choice. The problems are studied within a restricted translog cost share model. The paper concludes that interfuel substitution in existing power plants is substantial, especially that between oil and gas. This is consistent with the notion that short-run fuel substitution takes place in dual- or multi-fired plants, by switching load between different single-fired plants, and by some conversions of power plants to be able to burn alternate fuels. The empirical investigation also indicates that the system load factor is a notable determinant of fossil fuel choices in west Europe, and the paper ends with an assessment of the fuel consequences of some load management schemes in the region.