[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mns/wpaper/wp201711.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inter-Regional Coal Mine Competition in the US: Evidence from Rail Restriction

Author

Listed:
  • Kanishka Kacker

    (Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute)

  • Ian Lange

    (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines)

Abstract
There has been much discussion recently in the U.S. press about the fate of coal mining and its employees, specifically in the Appalachian region. This analysis looks at how Appalachian coal mining responds to changes in coal production from the Western US, whose mines are generally on federal land. Specifically we look at how an unexpected reduction in the ability to move coal from Wyoming to Eastern power plants in 2005-06 impacted the rate of opening and closure of mines in Appalachia. The findings reveal that restrictions in coal from federal lands leads to a reduction in the rate of Appalachian coal mine closure but no impact on the rate of coal mine openings. The results imply inter-regional coal mine substitution possibilities and shed light on the tradeoffs inherent in policies to encourage production in one region.

Suggested Citation

  • Kanishka Kacker & Ian Lange, 2017. "Inter-Regional Coal Mine Competition in the US: Evidence from Rail Restriction," Working Papers 2017-11, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201711
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econbus-papers.mines.edu/working-papers/wp201711.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Todd D. Gerarden & W. Spencer Reeder & James H. Stock, 2020. "Federal Coal Program Reform, the Clean Power Plan, and the Interaction of Upstream and Downstream Climate Policies," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 167-199, February.
    2. Kyle C. Meng, 2016. "Estimating Path Dependence in Energy Transitions," NBER Working Papers 22536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Danny McGowan, 2017. "Digging Deep to Compete: Vertical Integration, Product Market Competition and Prices," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(4), pages 683-718, December.
    4. John Coglianese, Todd D. Gerarden, and James H. Stock, 2020. "The Effects of Fuel Prices, Environmental Regulations, and Other Factors on U.S. Coal Production, 2008-2016," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    5. Puhani, Patrick A., 2012. "The treatment effect, the cross difference, and the interaction term in nonlinear “difference-in-differences” models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 85-87.
    6. Joshua Linn & Kristen McCormack, 2019. "The roles of energy markets and environmental regulation in reducing coal‐fired plant profits and electricity sector emissions," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(4), pages 733-767, December.
    7. Holladay, J. Scott & LaRiviere, Jacob, 2017. "The impact of cheap natural gas on marginal emissions from electricity generation and implications for energy policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 205-227.
    8. Ellerman,A. Denny & Joskow,Paul L. & Schmalensee,Richard & Montero,Juan-Pablo & Bailey,Elizabeth M., 2005. "Markets for Clean Air," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521023894, September.
      • Ellerman,A. Denny & Joskow,Paul L. & Schmalensee,Richard & Montero,Juan-Pablo & Bailey,Elizabeth M., 2000. "Markets for Clean Air," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521660839, September.
    9. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2018. "The Fall of Coal: Joint Impacts of Fuel Prices and Renewables on Generation and Emissions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 90-116, May.
    10. Brett Watson & Ian Lange & Joshua Linn, 2023. "Coal demand, market forces, and U.S. coal mine closures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 35-57, January.
    11. Jonathan Eyer & Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "Prolonging Coal’s Sunset: The Causes and Consequences of Local Protectionism for a Declining Polluting Industry," NBER Working Papers 23190, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Meghan R. Busse & Nathaniel O. Keohane, 2007. "Market effects of environmental regulation: coal, railroads, and the 1990 Clean Air Act," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(4), pages 1159-1179, December.
    13. J. Scott Holladay & Jacob LaRiviere, 2015. "The Impact of Cheap Natural Gas on Marginal Emissions from Electricity Generation and Implications for Energy," Working Papers 2015-07, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    14. Linn, Joshua & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2018. "The heterogeneous impacts of low natural gas prices on consumers and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-28.
    15. Joskow, Paul L, 1987. "Contract Duration and Relationship-Specific Investments: Empirical Evidence from Coal Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(1), pages 168-185, March.
    16. Slade, Margaret E., 2001. "Valuing Managerial Flexibility: An Application of Real-Option Theory to Mining Investments," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 193-233, March.
    17. Linn, Joshua & Anna Muehlenbachs, Lucija & Wang, Yshuang, 2014. "How Do Natural Gas Prices Affect Electricity Consumers and the Environment?," RFF Working Paper Series dp-14-19, Resources for the Future.
    18. Bård Harstad, 2012. "Buy Coal! A Case for Supply-Side Environmental Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(1), pages 77-115.
    19. Peter Erickson & Michael Lazarus, 2018. "Would constraining US fossil fuel production affect global CO2 emissions? A case study of US leasing policy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 29-42, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Linye Zhu & Yonggui Zhang & Kewen Chen & Qiang Liu & Wenbin Sun, 2023. "Exploring Land-Cover Types and Their Changes in the Open-Pit Mining Area of Ordos City Using Sentinel-2 Imagery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Brett Watson & Ian Lange & Joshua Linn, 2023. "Coal demand, market forces, and U.S. coal mine closures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 35-57, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brett Watson & Ian Lange & Joshua Linn, 2023. "Coal demand, market forces, and U.S. coal mine closures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 35-57, January.
    2. Jonathan E. Hughes & Ian Lange, 2020. "Who (Else) Benefits From Electricity Deregulation? Coal Prices, Natural Gas, And Price Discrimination," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(3), pages 1053-1075, July.
    3. Knittel, Christopher R. & Metaxoglou, Konstantinos & Trindade, André, 2019. "Environmental implications of market structure: Shale gas and electricity markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 511-550.
    4. LaPlue, Lawrence D., 2022. "Environmental consequences of natural gas wellhead pricing deregulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Doyle, Matthew & Fell, Harrison, 2018. "Fuel prices, restructuring, and natural gas plant operations," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 153-172.
    6. Christopher R. Knittel & Konstantinos Metaxoglou & Anson Soderbery & André Trindade, 2022. "Exporting global warming? Coal trade and the shale gas boom," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 1294-1333, August.
    7. Rivera, Nathaly M. & Loveridge, Scott, 2022. "Coal-to-gas fuel switching and its effects on housing prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    8. Abrell, Jan & Kosch, Mirjam & Rausch, Sebastian, 2022. "How effective is carbon pricing?—A machine learning approach to policy evaluation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    9. Lange, Ian, 2008. "Contract Parameters' Impacts on Coal Prices," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2008-26, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    10. Krupnick, Alan & Darmstadter, Joel & Richardson, Nathan & McLaughlin, Katrina, 2015. "Putting a Carbon Charge on Federal Coal: Legal and Economic Issues," RFF Working Paper Series dp-15-13, Resources for the Future.
    11. Janjala Chirakijja & Seema Jayachandran & Pinchuan Ong, 2019. "Inexpensive Heating Reduces Winter Mortality," NBER Working Papers 25681, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Rivera, Nathaly M. & Ruiz-Tagle, J. Cristobal & Spiller, Elisheba, 2024. "The health benefits of solar power generation: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. Di Maria, Corrado & Lange, Ian & van der Werf, Edwin, 2014. "Should we be worried about the green paradox? Announcement effects of the Acid Rain Program," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 143-162.
    14. Kanishka Kacker, 2016. "Regulation and Contract Design: The Impact of Relationship Specific Investment," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 656-682, December.
    15. Ding Du & Stephen A Karolyi, 2023. "Energy Transitions and Household Finance: Evidence from U.S. Coal Mining," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(4), pages 723-760.
    16. Harding, Matthew & Kettler, Kyle & Lamarche, Carlos & Ma, Lala, 2023. "The (alleged) environmental and social benefits of dynamic pricing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 574-593.
    17. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2018. "The Fall of Coal: Joint Impacts of Fuel Prices and Renewables on Generation and Emissions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 90-116, May.
    18. Brehm, Paul, 2019. "Natural gas prices, electric generation investment, and greenhouse gas emissions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    19. Laura Alfaro & Nick Bloom & Paola Conconi & Harald Fadinger & Patrick Legros & Andrew F Newman & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2024. "Come Together: Firm Boundaries and Delegation," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 34-72.
    20. Kosnik, Lea & Lange, Ian, 2011. "Contract renegotiation and rent re-distribution: Who gets raked over the coals?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 155-165, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Coal switching; Railroads; Supply Shock;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L71 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels
    • Q35 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Hydrocarbon Resources

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jared Carbone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decsmus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.