美国收入不平等加剧与家庭用电量下降：二者有关联吗？
Rising U.S. Income Inequality and Declining Residential Electricity Consumption: Is There a Link?
Review of Economics and Statistics · 2023 · [{"name": "Joshua Linn", "affiliation": ["University of Maryland, College Park"]}, {"name": "Jing Liang", "affiliation": ["Princeton University"]}, {"name": "Yueming Qiu", "affiliation": ["University of Maryland, College Park"]}]
中文摘要
摘要：在经历数十年的稳定增长后，美国家庭平均能源消费于2000年代中期开始下降。利用1990年至2020年间《住宅能源消费调查》与《当前人口调查》的家庭层面数据，我们将每户消费的总体变化分解为三个组成部分：平均收入、跨家庭收入分布，以及包括能源效率在内的消费习惯。平均收入增长使消费增加了11%，而收入不平等加剧则使消费减少了8%，几乎完全抵消了收入增长的影响。消费习惯的变化也降低了消费。粗略估算表明，收入不平等加剧产生了一个意想不到的效应：由于电力消费降低，2020年气候与空气质量改善带来的价值达90亿美元。结果表明，协调应对不平等和污染问题的政策具有重要意义。
Abstract
Abstract After growing steadily for decades, average U.S. household energy consumption began declining in the mid-2000s. Using household-level data from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey and Current Population Survey between 1990 and 2020, we decompose overall changes in per household consumption into three components: average income, cross-household income distribution, and consumption habits, which include energy efficiency. Growth of average income caused consumption to increase by 11%, and rising income inequality reduced consumption by 8%, nearly entirely offsetting the effect of income growth. Changes in habits also reduced consumption. Back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate an unexpected effect of rising income inequality: climate and air quality improvements valued at $9 billion in 2020 due to lower electricity consumption. The results indicate the importance of coordinating policies that address inequality and pollution.