Do Market Shares or Technology Explain Rising New Vehicle Fuel Economy?

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Date

Sept. 9, 2013

Authors

Shefali Khanna and Joshua Linn

Publication

Working Paper

Reading time

1 minute

By decreasing gasoline consumption, greater fuel economy could significantly reduce environmental and energy security concerns. In this paper, we show that since the year 2000, technology and market shares have contributed roughly equally to rising new vehicle fuel economy in the United States. We discuss the implications of these patterns for the safety and welfare effects of fuel economy standards.

Topics

Authors

Shefali Khanna

Joshua Linn

Senior Fellow

Josh Linn is a senior fellow at RFF. His research centers on the effects of environmental policies and economic incentives for new technologies in the transportation, electricity, and industrial sectors.

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