主題：Reforming Inefficient Energy Pricing: Evidence from China

主講人：Shuang Zhang，科羅拉多大學博爾德分校經濟學副教授

時間：11月11日（周三）上午10:00-11:30

地點：4-101教室

語言：英文

摘要：

Inefficient energy pricing hinders economic development in many countries. We examine long-run effects of a recent heating reform in China that replaced a commonly-used fixed-payment system with individually-metered pricing. Using staggered policy rollouts and administrative data on household-level daily heating consumption, we find that the reform induced long-run reductions in heating usage and generated substantial welfare gains. Consumers gradually learned how to conserve heating effectively, making short-run evaluations underestimate the policy impacts. Our results suggest that energy price reform is an effective way to improve allocative efficiency and air quality in developing countries, where unmetered-inefficient pricing is still ubiquitous.

主講人簡介：

Shuang Zhang (Ph.D., Cornell University) is an Assistant Professor of Economics and International Affairs. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research at Stanford University in 2012-13. Her research areas cover development, health, education and environment, with a focus on China.