Automobiles on Steroids: Product Attribute Trade-Offs and Technological Progress in the Automobile Sector

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Knittel, Christopher R.
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.7.3368
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 3368-3399
• 关键词: FUEL-ECONOMY IMPROVEMENT; induced innovation; industry; prices

摘要

This paper estimates the technological progress that has occurred since 1980 in the automobile industry and the trade-offs faced when choosing between fuel economy, weight, and engine power characteristics. The results suggest that if weight, horsepower, and torque were held at their 1980 levels, fuel economy could have increased by nearly 60 percent from 1980 to 2006. Once technological progress is considered, meeting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards adopted in 2007 will require halting the trend in weight and engine power characteristics, but little more. In contrast, the standards recently announced by the new administration, while attainable, require nontrivial downsizing.