Trends in Household Demand and Greenhouse Gas Footprints in Germany : Evidence from Microdata of the Last 20 Years

This paper quantifies changes in the trend of greenhouse gas footprints associated with household consumption covering a period of 20 years. We combine greenhouse gas emissions related with the supply chain (embedded) and consumption (direct) with households' consumption expenditures from the sample survey of income and expenditure (EVS) and present the first comprehensive study on trends in greenhouse gas footprints of German households. Unlike most earlier studies, we estimate cross-price elasticities in addition to expenditure and own-price elasticities. This is particularly relevant for a study on long-term changes in greenhouse gas footprints but also of major importance for policy analysis. Further, comparing results of the more advanced EASI demand system with the results of the more widely used QUAIDS approach, we find sizable differences