Impacts of Ethanol on Planted Acreage in Market Equilibrium
研究了乙醇需求增加如何导致总耕地面积扩大，并分析了价格补贴和消费指令对土地利用的影响，对评估生物燃料的温室气体减排效果有参考价值。
Abstract The magnitude of land conversion caused by biofuels expansion largely determines whether biofuels reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. To examine this issue, we model how equilibrium changes in input use and land allocation decisions respond to market‐ and policy‐induced increases in corn ethanol demand. We demonstrate why total cropland area unambiguously increases with increased ethanol demand. The impact of ethanol price subsidies and consumption mandates are examined in the context of technical change. If ethanol demand is elastic enough, an exogenous increase in corn yields leads to cropland expansion with price subsidies. Yield increases under consumption mandates reduce land use.