Rhetoric and Reality: Jobs and the Energy Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Abstract

In February 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the largest single expenditure package in U.S. history. The ARRA was legislatively intended as a macroeconomic stimulus to temporarily revive the economy after the Great Recession of 2008. At a microeconomic level, much of the package took the form of grants intended to stimulate the country's energy economy. The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the effectiveness of these large-scale federally-funded-grants in terms of creating jobs related to the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors throughout the country. The focus was specifically upon the grants implemented through the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The results show that all else held equal, these ARRA expenditures were, by-in-large, successful at stimulating job creation in the relevant energy sectors.