Full Title: The Role of State Policies under Federal Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards
Author(s): Joshua Linn and Virginia McConnell
Publisher(s): Resources For the Future
Publication Date: June 1, 2017
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Currently, the US federal government sets fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for passenger vehicles and promotes innovation for alternative fuel vehicles. Many states are considering their own transportation policies that would reduce the environmental, health, and time costs of driving. In principle, federal and state policies may interact in important ways, either positively or negatively. We find that state policies targeting only emissions of new vehicles and particularly alternative fuel vehicles are unlikely to decrease national greenhouse gas emissions in the short run, primarily due to interactions with federal regulations. We then examine the conditions under which state and federal policies can have positive long-run social benefits. Carefully constructed state policies can complement the federal policies and achieve states’ objectives.