经济与社会研究院SEMINAR第105期

题目：Do Consumers Distinguish Marginal Cost form Fixed Cost? Evidence from Heating Price Reform in China

主讲人： 张爽，上海纽约大学

时间： 2018年10月12日， 13:30-14:45

地点：暨南大学中惠楼106B室

主讲人简介：

Shuang Zhang is Assistant Professor of Economics, NYU Shanghai; Global Network Assistant Professor, NYU. Prior to this appointment, Zhang was an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and a Visiting Scholar with the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. Her research has secured various grants and awards, such as the National Science Foundation Award and the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation Junior Scholar Grant. Her research interests include Environment and Energy, Health and Development.

Abstract:

A central assumption in economics is that consumers distinguish marginal cost from fixed cost. This paper empirically tests this assumption by using a quasi-experiment in heating price reform in China. The introduction of a two-part tariff created policy-induced variation in the marginal cost and the fixed cost, and staggered policy implementation by building allows us to develop an event-study research design. Using administrative records on daily household level heating usage over ten years, we find strong evidence that consumers distinguish marginal cost from fixed cost in a way that is consistent with standard economic theory. Consequently, the policy provided intended social welfare gains from allocative efficiency and environmental externalities. Our findings provide important implications for energy policy because a growing number of developing countries including China are in the process of implementing consumption based energy billing in lieu of pre-existing inefficient fixed-charge billing.