Consumer Valuation of Fuel Costs and Tax Policy: Evidence from the European Car Market
利用欧洲多国产品数据，研究消费者是否低估未来燃料成本，发现燃料税比产品税更能有效减少燃料使用并提升福利，因其能更好引导高里程消费者购买节能车。
To what extent do car buyers undervalue future fuel costs, and what does this imply for tax policy? To address both questions, we show it is crucial to account for consumer mileage heterogeneity. We use product-level data for a panel of European countries and exploit fuel cost variation by engine. Despite a modest undervaluation of fuel costs, fuel taxes are more effective in reducing fuel usage than product taxes. They also perform better in terms of welfare, even when usage demand is held fixed. The reason is that fuel taxes better target high mileage consumers to purchase fuel efficient cars.