Automobiles on steroids: Product attribute trade-offs and technological progress in the automobile sector
Name
Knittel_Automobiles on steroids.pdf
Size
1.65 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
096df534992c55aca01244321b8b54e9
Author(s)
Knittel, Christopher Roland
Date Issued
December 2011
Journal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Knittel, Christopher R. “Automobiles on Steroids: Product Attribute Trade-Offs and Technological Progress in the Automobile Sector.” American Economic Review 101.7 (2011): 3368–3399. Web.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper estimates the technological progress that has occurred since 1980 in the automobile industry and the trade-offs faced when choosing between fuel economy, weight, and engine power characteristics. The results suggest that if weight, horsepower, and torque were held at their 1980 levels, fuel economy could have increased by nearly 60 percent from 1980 to 2006. Once technological progress is considered, meeting the CAFE standards adopted in 2007 will require halting the trend in weight and engine power characteristics, but little more. In contrast, the standards recently announced by the new administration, while attainable, require nontrivial "downsizing."
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.7.3368
