两种电力定价错误能否相互抵消？成本回收、外部性与效率

中文摘要

经济学家支持对污染定价，部分原因在于使消费者面对商品和服务的全部社会边际成本（SMC）。然而，即使不存在外部性，由于公用事业公司需要覆盖平均成本，零售电价通常也高于私人边际成本。此外，电力的社会边际成本可能逐小时大幅波动，而零售电价则不会。我们发现，美国大部分地区的居民电价高于平均社会边际成本，但存在较大的地域和时间差异。这一发现对污染成本的传导，以及促进动态定价、替代能源和减少电力消费的政策具有重要意义。

Abstract

Economists favor pricing pollution in part so that consumers face the full social marginal cost (SMC) of goods and services. But even absent externalities, retail electricity prices typically exceed private marginal cost, due to a utility’s need to cover average costs. Furthermore, the SMC of electricity can fluctuate widely hour-to-hour, while retail prices do not. We show that residential electricity rates exceed average SMC in most of the US, but there is large geographic and temporal variation. This finding has important implications for pass-through of pollution costs, as well as for policies promoting dynamic pricing, alternative energy, and reduced electricity consumption. (JEL D62, L94, L98, Q42, Q53)