Regional economic impacts of household energy savings in the low-income weatherization assistance program
Regional economic impacts of energy savings realized by participants in the federal Low-income Weatherization Assistance Program were estimated for the 1980-81 fiscal year, using a 9-region, 11-sector version of the 1977 Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) model. Inputs to the model consisted of reduced energy expenditures and demand changes in 21 household expenditure categories aggregated from interview data of the 1980-81 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) of the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Demand changes were estimated from derivations of consumption impacts based on an average 13.4% energy savings attributable to the program by a U.S. Department of Energy impact evaluation. Eligibility criteria for LIWAP participation were used to extract households from the CES sample, resulting in a sample size of 1,064 households for this study. Using regression analysis, consumption impacts were derived as a function of demographic variables (age, race, and sex of household head; family site; and region of residence). Results showed consumption impacts of energy savings having the greatest effect on total housing expenditures (31%), followed by those for transportation (29%) and food (13%) for the sample population. The reduced energy expenditure and demand changes on the interregional, interindustry economy, as estimated by the MRIO model, result in a net negative impact of approximately $11.5 million. Net effects vary among regions and industries. For example, agriculture and related industries realize a gain in the West North Central states, while transportation experiences a loss in the East North Central states. The net negative impact might be offset by demand changes resulting from the labor and materials components of the program which were not estimated. The estimates point to the potentially widespread interregional and interindustry effects of social policy.
- Research Organization:
- Brandeis Univ., Waltham, MA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6908279
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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