Does energy policy hurt international competitiveness of firms? A comparative study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria

Christian Rammer, Sandra Gottschalk, Michael Peneder, Martin Wörter, Tobias Stucki and Spyros Arvanitis
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Martin Woerter

No 16-075, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of energy policies on the export performance of firms. There has been a long policy debate on potentially negative impacts of cost-increasing energy policies on international competitiveness. We use firm-level data from three countries with similar industry structure but different energy policies: Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. We rely on firm manager assessments on the relevance of energy policy (in terms of taxes, regulations, standards, subsidies and demand stimulation) for their firm operation and link data on the adoption and development of new energy technologies. Regression analyses and matching approaches both show very few impacts of energy policy on export performance, suggesting that either policy impacts on firms' cost are negligible in the period of study (2012 to 2014) or likely negative impacts are balanced by the adoption of new technology.

Keywords: energy policy; technology adoption; competitiveness; export; matching approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 F18 O33 Q48 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse and nep-ene
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does energy policy hurt international competitiveness of firms? A comparative study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria (2017)
Working Paper: Does Energy Policy Hurt International Competitiveness of Firms? A Comparative Study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16075

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