The Distributional Effects of Building Energy Codes
利用加州气候分区造成的规范严格度空间差异，研究建筑节能规范对不同收入家庭住房特征、能源使用和房产价值的影响，发现低收入家庭住房面积减少、能源效率下降、房产价值降低，而高收入家庭受益。
We evaluate the distributional consequences of building energy codes for home characteristics, energy use, and home value. We exploit spatial variation in California’s code strictness created by building climate zones, combined with information on over 350,000 homes located within 3 kilometers of climate zone borders. Our key findings are that stricter codes create a nontrivial reduction in homes’ square footage and the number of bedrooms at the lower end of the income distribution. On a per-dwelling basis, we observe energy use reductions only in the second lowest income quintile, driven by decreases in square footage. Energy use per square foot actually increases in the bottom quintile. Home values of lower-income households fall, while those of high-income households rise, suggesting that building energy codes result in more undesirable distortions for lower-income households.