This paper proposes a variant of the classical HAUSMAN specification test commonly employed to decide whether the estimation of a random-effects model is a viable alternative to estimating fixed effects. Whereas the classical test probes the equality of fixed- and random effects, the proposed...

A longstanding question in the study of energy demand concerns the role of information as a determinant of home-efficiency improvements. Although the provision of information via home energy audits is frequently asserted to be an effective means for governments to encourage the implementation of...

The Energy Tax Directive recently proposed by the European Commission envisages to tax fuels based on their energy content. By raising prices for diesel to a level higher than that of petrol, this proposal would eliminate the price advantage currently enjoyed by diesel in most EU Member States....

This note attempts to reconcile a range of primary methods for dealing with price asymmetry, such as the approaches proposed by Tweeten and Quance (1969), Wolffram (1971) and Houk(1977). Using Wolffram's stylized example, we first illustrate that the notion of asymmetry can be captured in a...

Recent research suggests that households increase their electricity consumption in the aftermath of installing photovoltaic (PV) panels, a behavioral change commonly referred to as the solar rebound. Drawing on panel data originating from the German Residential Energy Consumption Survey (GRECS),...

This article investigates a bracketing property that purports to yield upper- and lower bounds on the treatment effects obtained from a fixed effects- and lagged dependent variable model. With reference to both analytical results and a Monte Carlo simulation, we explore the conditions under...

The proliferation of instruments targeted at combatting climate change necessitates evidence-based evaluation to identify strategies that are not only effective and cost-efficient, but also supported by the population. In Germany, the data needed to support such analysis is scarce, however. A...

Focusing on individual motorists in car-owning households in Germany, this paper econometrically investigates the determinants of automobile travel with the specific aim of quantifying the effects of fuel prices and person-level attributes on travel conducted over a five-day week and weekend....

Interaction effects capture the impact of one explanatory variable x1 on the marginal effect of another explanatory variable x2. To explore interaction effects, so-called interaction terms x1x2 are typically included in estimation specifications. While in linear models the effect of a marginal...