Discussion paper
DP17603 Support for Renewable Energy: The Case of Wind Power
Successful decarbonization requires strong growth in renewable electricity capacity. Citizens’ support for this is crucial given that these technologies emit negative externalities locally. We estimate the impact of wind turbine deployment on granular measures of revealed preferences for renewable electricity in product and political markets. We address potentially endogenous siting of turbines with an IV design that exploits quasi-experimental variation in profitability. We find that wind turbines significantly reduce citizens’ support locally, but this effect quickly fades with distance from the site. We discuss recent policy proposal for enhancing citizens’ support for renewable energy in light of our results.
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