<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><h1 class=" widget-header header-compact-horizontal header-regular" style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Noto Sans", sans-serif; padding: 7px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(15, 66, 92); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Energy taxes put less of a burden on poor people than efficiency standards</h1><div class="widget-body body body-compact-horizontal body-regular" style="padding: 7px 0px; font-family: "Noto Sans", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div id="rich-text-218e8c77-a808-45c1-9df4-1601c0fcbe49" class="pb-rich-text" style="min-height: 15px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 0px;" class="">In “<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/701186" style="color: rgb(11, 82, 159); text-decoration: none;" class="">Energy Efficiency Standards Are More Regressive Than Energy Taxes</a>,’” published in the <em class=""><a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jaere/current" style="color: rgb(11, 82, 159); text-decoration: none;" class="">Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists</a></em><em class="">,</em> Arik Levinson demonstrates that energy taxes place less of a burden on the poor relative to energy efficiency standards.</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">For nearly 100 years, economists have endorsed taxes as a cost-effective means of reducing pollution. Despite that, the United States has chosen to not impose carbon or gasoline taxes, opting instead for energy efficiency standards for appliances and fuel economy standards for cars. An often cited reason is that energy taxes are regressive—that is, they put a disproportionate burden on poor people. But while research has shown that energy taxes and efficiency standards both can have this negative effect, Levinson’s is the first study to analyze which approach is more regressive.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em;" class="">“I contrast two public policies: a tax on energy, and a tax on inefficient appliances and cars,” Levinson writes. “This simple framework generates a stark result: an energy tax would be both more cost-effective and less regressive.” </p><p style="line-height: 1.5em;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Using a static, two-good, theoretical model, where consumers differ only by income, Levinson finds that for any “energy-using durable”—cars, air conditioners, lightbulbs, washing machines, even entire houses—</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">richer households purchase more energy efficiency and more energy.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> “The framework lends itself to empirical corroboration,” Levinson writes. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">“It predicts that richer households purchase more efficient appliances and vehicles, and use more energy operating them.”</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">Levinson then tests this theoretical prediction</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> on automobiles in the U.S., using Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey. The survey includes information for about 150,000 households divided by income group, including their annual average household gasoline use, number of cars, and miles driven.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em;" class="">For the test, Levinson frames CAFE standards as an “inefficiency tax,” that is paid either at the time of purchase or annually as part of car registration. By treating both policies as revenue-equivalent taxes, Levinson is able to compare how every income group would be affected. “To compare the distributional consequences of the two policies, we can think of the fuel economy standard as a tax on the gallons per mile of the vehicles owned by each household and see how its static incidence stacks up against that of the gas tax,” he writes.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em;" class="">Levinson shows that an inefficiency tax would result in less tax revenue being collected from rich households and more from poor households, meaning that a gasoline tax would be less regressive than an inefficiency tax.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em;" class="">Levinson also examines a 2011 update to CAFE known as the “footprint based” standards. Whereas pre-2011 CAFE standards applied equally to all cars, the new standards favor larger cars, as measured by the square footage their four tires, their “footprints.” Translating the new footprint-based CAFE standards into a tax, Levinson compares it on a revenue-equivalent basis to both the theoretical gas tax and the pre-2011 CAFE standards. He finds that the footprint-based changes exacerbated the regressivity of the U.S. CAFE standards.</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Despite the results favoring gas taxes over efficiency standards, Levinson makes clear that his analysis only measures the relative regressivity of the two approaches. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">Whether any tax is truly progressive or regressive depends on how the generated revenue is spent. “If revenues are spent on government services for rich households, or wasted entirely, both taxes would be regressive,” he writes. “But if revenues are spent on services for poor households, or refunded as an equal payment for every household, both taxes would be progressive.”</span></p><hr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em;" class="">As the official research journal of the <a href="http://www.aere.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(11, 82, 159); text-decoration: none;" class="">Association of Environmental and Resource Economists</a>, <em class="">JAERE </em>publishes papers that are devoted to environmental and natural resource issues. The journal’s principal mission is to provide a forum for the scholarly exchange of ideas in the intersection of human behavior and the natural environment. Focusing on original<strong class="">,</strong> full-length research papers that offer substantial new insights for scholars of environmental and resource economics, <em class="">JAERE</em> presents a range of articles that are relevant for public policy, using approaches that are theoretical, empirical, or both.</p></div></div><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;">++++++++ Hot, dry and Windy Index ++++++</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;">Basic fire science is still fairly simple. </div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;">If it’s hot, and dry, and you get a spark, you’ve got fire. </div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;">If it’s hot, and dry, <i class="">and windy</i>, and you get a spark, you’ve got a fire that spreads far, and fast</div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;"><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 0, 153);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://nwfirescience.org/tools/hot-dry-windy-index-hdw" class="">The Hot-Dry-Windy Index (HDW) | Northwest Fire Science Consortium<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://nwfirescience.org/tools/hot-dry-windy-index-hdw" class="">nwfirescience.org/tools/hot-dry-windy-index-hdw<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84);"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oct 5, 2018 - </span><b class="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">A new fire-weather prediction tool based on the key atmospheric variables that affect wildland fire: temperature, moisture, and </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);">wind</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">.</span></b></span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><b class="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br class=""></span></b></span></div></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); min-height: 17px;"><a href="https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/56562" class="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;">The hot-dry-windy index: A new fire weather index</a></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/56562" class="">https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/56562<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">Aug 8, </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">2018</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"> - </span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">We define a new fire weather index called the </span><span class="" style="color: rgb(106, 106, 106); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">Hot</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="color: rgb(106, 106, 106); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">Dry</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="color: rgb(106, 106, 106); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">Windy Index</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"> (HDW). HDW uses the basic science of how the atmosphere can affect a ...</span></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); min-height: 17px;"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br class=""></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 0, 153);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/fire/hdw/" class="">Hot-Dry-Windy Index - Northern Research Station - USDA Forest Service<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/fire/hdw/" class="">https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/fire/hdw/<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><font color="#777777" class="">Feb 28, </font><b class="">2019 </b><font color="#777777" class="">- </font></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">In order to simplify the problem, we have defined a new fire weather index called the </span><span class="" style="color: rgb(106, 106, 106); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">Hot</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="color: rgb(106, 106, 106); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">Dry</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="color: rgb(106, 106, 106); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b class="">Windy Index</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); -webkit-font-kerning: none;"> (HDW) that can be used to assess ...</span></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); min-height: 17px;"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br class=""></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 13, 171);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;"><b class="">[PDF]</b></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 0, 153);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/2018/ja_2018_goodrick_001.pdf" class="">The Hot-Dry-Windy Index - Southern Research Station - USDA<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/2018/ja_2018_goodrick_001.pdf" class="">https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/2018/ja_2018_goodrick_001.pdf<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); -webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AF Srock - </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b class="">2018 -</b></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); -webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS737US737&um=1&ie=UTF-8&lr&cites=12763361008682718259" class=""><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(26, 13, 171);">Cited by 2</span></a> - <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS737US737&um=1&ie=UTF-8&lr&q=related:M9Sa1jaRILG-IM:scholar.google.com/" class=""><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(26, 13, 171);">Related articles</span></a></span></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">Jul 19, 2018 - </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">We define a new fire weather </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">index</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> called the </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Hot</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Dry</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Windy Index</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> (HDW). ... HDW is defined and then compared with the Haines </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Index</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> (HI) for four historical fires. The Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) is used to provide the meteorological data for calculating the </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">indices</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">.</span></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); min-height: 17px;"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br class=""></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 0, 153);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2019/02/20/comparing-the-haines-index-with-the-hot-dry-windy-index/" class="">Comparing the Haines Index with the Hot-Dry-Windy Index - Wildfire ...<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2019/02/20/comparing-the-haines-index-with-the-hot-dry-windy-index/" class="">https://wildfiretoday.com/.../comparing-the-haines-index-with-the-hot-dry-windy-inde...<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">Feb 20, 2019 - </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">In a comment on the earlier post about the </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Hot</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Dry</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Windy Index</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> (HDW), Brian Potter, a research meteorologist with the U.S. Forest Service, ..</span></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;">.</span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 0, 153);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.frames.gov/catalog/56291" class="">Development and application of a hot-dry-windy index (HDW ...<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.frames.gov/catalog/56291" class="">https://www.frames.gov/catalog/56291<span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"></span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">Aug 7, 2018 - </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">In this paper, we describe and analyze a climatology of the </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Hot</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Dry</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">-</span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(106, 106, 106);"><b class="">Windy Index</b></span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"> (HDW), with the goal of providing fire-weather forecasters with ...</span></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(84, 84, 84); min-height: 17px;"><span class="" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br class=""></span></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(102, 0, 153);"></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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