Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
气价刹车推高气价：实证证据
The Gas Price Brake Increases Gas Prices: Empirical Evidence
摘要
In the aftermath of the Russian invasion in Ukraine and rising gas prices, the ’gas price brake’, a subsidy scheme for retail consumers and firms, was implemented in Germany. We employ a difference-in-differences approach and analyze data on offered gas contracts from two countries with comparable gas markets, where one country (Germany) has implemented the gas price brake and the other (Austria) has not. We find that the gas price brake led to an increase in total annual gas costs in Germany. This increase is entirely attributable to incumbents increasing counterfactual gas prices by up to 90%. Non-incumbents do not ’milk‘ the brake.
中文摘要
在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰及天然气价格飙升的背景下，德国实施了针对零售消费者和企业的“天然气价格刹车”补贴计划。我们采用双重差分法，分析了来自两个天然气市场可比国家的天然气合同报价数据，其中一国（德国）实施了天然气价格刹车，而另一国（奥地利）未实施。研究发现，天然气价格刹车导致德国年度天然气总成本上升。这一上升完全归因于现有供应商将反事实天然气价格提高了高达90%。非现有供应商并未“利用”该刹车机制。