The Local Economic Impact of Wind Power Deployment

Nils May and Øivind Nilsen

No 9025, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Globally installed wind power capacity has grown tremendously since 2000. This study focuses on the local economic impacts of wind power deployment. A theoretical model shows that wind power deployment is not necessarily driven by locally-accruing economic payoffs, but also by other factors such as emphasis on environmentally-friendly energy production and its associated benefits. The theoretical analysis is followed by an empirical analysis using German county-level panel data. After controlling for a set of observable and unobservable factors, the results state that wind power installation has no impact on GDP per capita. These findings support the predictions from the theoretical model: local economic impacts cannot alone explain the observed increase in wind power capacity.

Keywords: wind power; economic development; panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 Q42 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2015-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - published in: FinanzArchiv / Public Finance Analysis, 2019, 75 (1), 56-92.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Local Economic Impact of Wind Power Deployment (2019)
Working Paper: The Local Economic Impact of Wind Power Deployment (2015)
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