Residential Demand for Electricity Under Inverted Block Rates: Evidence From a Controlled Experiment
利用居民电价实验数据，估计阶梯电价下的短期价格弹性，并比较针对非线性预算约束的多种估计方法。
Block-rate structures are used extensively in public-utility pricing, including residential electricity. Estimating price elasticities in this context is complicated by the resulting nonlinearity of the consumer's budget constraint. This article estimates the demand for electricity under inverted block rates using data from a residential rate experiment. The study provides an opportunity to obtain short-run price elasticities in an experimental setting and to compare alternative estimators developed for nonlinear budget constraints. Elasticities of demand with respect to individual components of the block rate are developed using a modification of the structural maximum likelihood estimator.