The Musk Partisan Effect on Tesla Sales

Kenneth Gillingham, Matthew Kotchen, James Levinsohn and Barry Nalebuff

No 34413, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study how Elon Musk's polarizing and partisan actions have impacted Tesla vehicle sales in the United States. Using county-level, monthly data on new vehicle registrations, we leverage how changes in vehicle sales over time diverge across counties with differing shares of Democratic and Republican voters. Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla sales between October 2022 and April 2025 would have been 67-83% higher, equivalent to 1-1.26 million more vehicles. Musk’s partisan activities also increased the sales of other automakers' electric and hybrid vehicles 17-22% because of substitution, and undermined California’s progress in meeting its zero-emissions vehicle target.

JEL-codes: G3 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-ene, nep-inv and nep-tre
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