Does Energy Policy Hurt International Competitiveness of Firms? A Comparative Study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria

45 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2016

See all articles by Christian Rammer

Christian Rammer

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research - Industrial Economics and International Management Research

Sandra Gottschalk

Center for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Michael R. Peneder

Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)

Martin Woerter

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF)

Tobias Stucki

ETH Zürich - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research

Spyros Arvanitis

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF)

Date Written: November 15, 2016

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

JEL Classification: O33, Q48, Q55, F14, F18

Suggested Citation

Rammer, Christian and Gottschalk, Sandra and Peneder, Michael R. and Woerter, Martin and Stucki, Tobias and Arvanitis, Spyros, Does Energy Policy Hurt International Competitiveness of Firms? A Comparative Study for Germany, Switzerland and Austria (November 15, 2016). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 16-075, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2874320 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2874320

Christian Rammer (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research - Industrial Economics and International Management Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Sandra Gottschalk

Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Michael R. Peneder

Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) ( email )

P.O. Box 91
Wien, A-1103
Austria

Martin Woerter

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) ( email )

CH-8092 Zurich
Switzerland

Tobias Stucki

ETH Zürich - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research ( email )

Weinbergstrasse 35
ETH Zentrum
Zurich 8092, 8092
Switzerland

Spyros Arvanitis

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) ( email )

CH-8092 Zurich
Switzerland
+41 44 632 51 68 (Phone)
+41 44 632 13 52 (Fax)

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