Rebate Program Research Articles

The impact of expanded Medicaid eligibility on access to naloxone.

Federal, state and local US governments have sought interventions to reduce deaths due to opioid overdoses by increasing the availability of naloxone. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded Medicaid coverage to low-income, childless adults, potentially giving this group financial access to naloxone. The aims of this paper are: (1) to describe the changes in the amount of Medicaid-covered naloxone used between 2009 and 2016 and (2) to quantify the differential change in the amount of dispensed naloxone between states that expanded their Medicaid programs and states that did not. A quasi-experimental approach based on states' ongoing choice to expand their Medicaid program to all adults with incomes between 100 and 138% of the federal poverty line (FPL), starting in 2014. As of 2018, 37 states had expanded and 14 states had not. Estimation of the policy impact relies on a difference-in-difference method. US state Medicaid programs. Data are from the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and include all dispensed prescriptions of naloxone through the Medicaid program. State/quarters with fewer than 10 prescriptions are suppressed; n=1632. Prior to Medicaid expansion, the number of Medicaid-covered naloxone prescriptions was very similar in expansion and non-expansion states. On average, states that expanded Medicaid had 78.2 (95% confidence interval=16.0-140.3, P=0.02) more prescriptions per year for naloxone compared with states that did not expand Medicaid coverage, a nearly 10 increase over the pre-expansion years. Medicaid expansion contributed to this growth in Medicaid-covered naloxone more than other state-level naloxone policies. Medicaid accounts for approximately a quarter of naloxone sales. Medicaid expansion generated 8.3% of the growth in naloxone units from 2009 to 2016, holding other factors constant.

Bridging the rural efficiency gap: expanding access to energy efficiency upgrades in remote and high energy cost communities

Islands and remote rural communities throughout the USA pay some of the highest costs for electricity and heating fuel in the nation. For areas with such high energy costs, the benefits of energy efficiency can be significant but rural residents face several geographic, financial, and awareness barriers that make it difficult to invest in home energy upgrades. These barriers combine to create a market failure that we call the “rural energy efficiency gap.” The existence of the rural efficiency gap is supported by data collected from Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont which indicate that the “energy burden,” or percentage of household income spent on energy bills, is 33% higher in rural areas and that participation in residential energy efficiency financing and rebate programs can be significantly lower. The combination of higher energy burdens and greater barriers to participation can lead to inequitable distribution of available resources for energy efficiency, meaning that those who could benefit most from efficiency upgrades are often least able to access them. This work is designed to be a resource for energy efficiency program administrators but may also be of interest to energy efficiency program implementers, policymakers, and regulators. It provides data about the rural energy efficiency gap and identifies barriers to energy efficiency in rural communities. It also highlights strategies that are helping to bridge the gap by making it easier for residents in cold climate, petroleum-dependent states—those with high thermal energy burdens—to increase comfort and safety in their homes while also reducing energy bills. The barriers to rural energy efficiency identified in this paper have been grouped into three categories: geographic barriers, financial barriers, and awareness and access barriers. There are many differences between rural areas across the country, e.g., demographics, utility model and rate structures, energy sources, and consumption patterns. This paper is not intended to suggest that the strategies documented here will necessarily be applicable to all rural areas in the USA

Additionality Effects of Rebate Programs in the Residential Water Sector: Indoor vs. Outdoor

Rebate programs are often used in the residential water sector to alleviate market failures that may hamper the adoption of water-efficient technologies. In this paper, we examine whether several rebate programs stimulate or crowd out private investment in indoor and outdoor technologies. To do so, we use a panel of household-level data from a water district in Southern California for the period 2014–2015. Our results indicate that, while all the rebate programs considered in the analysis increase private investment in water-efficient technologies, only outdoor rebate programs generate further private investment in other outdoor technologies.

Current Value Frameworks—What's New?

Current Value Frameworks—What's New?

When the carrot goes bad: The effect of solar rebate uncertainty

Although meant to encourage investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, some incentive policies may themselves become a barrier in instances where policy-related uncertainty is present, as potential solar adopters delay their investment until uncertainty is resolved. This study utilizes a quasi-experimental setting to quantify the effect of solar policy uncertainty. Focusing on the California Solar Initiative's residential rebate program, I exploit the temporary exhaustion of funds within one of the utility territories as an exogenous source of increased uncertainty and estimate that it leads to a 67% drop in rebate applications in an average ZIP code-week. There is considerable heterogeneity in this effect depending on household income and PV system size. Among households that are least likely to invest in PV without a rebate incentive, program participation drops by up to 69%. This suggests potentially significant loss in program effectiveness due to lower PV adoption and underscores the importance of accounting for uncertainty in policy evaluations.

Fiscal stimulus and debt burden: evidence from Thailand’s first-car-buyer tax rebate program

This paper examines the extent to which a fiscal stimulus involving durable goods induces financial distress and causes debt burden. Using account-level loan data to study the impact of Thailand’s first-car-buyer tax rebate scheme at both individual and postcode levels, we find that the program led to higher loan delinquency and crowded out other loan originations, which are symptoms implied by excessive debt burden. The adverse impacts were more pronounced for passenger car buyers than for truck buyers and there were local negative spillovers to non-participants. Our findings raise questions about the merit of promoting economic growth by inducing debt-fueled spending and suggest that the design of durable goods stimulus policy should focus more on productive business durables than on consumer durables.

Industry Stakeholder Perspectives on the Adoption of Electric Bicycles in British Columbia

Electric-assist bicycles (e-bikes) are an emerging mode of transportation that offers a sustainable alternative to automobile use in urban areas. Past research on e-bike adoption has focused on user perspectives. Understanding other stakeholder perspectives is also essential to implementing effective e-bike policy. The objectives of this research are to identify alignments and misalignments in perspectives on e-bike adoption across industry stakeholders in British Columbia (BC), including e-bike retailers, manufacturers, cycling coalitions, and government agencies, and to provide recommendations for e-bike policy that account for those perspectives. An online survey was distributed to industry stakeholders to examine perceived barriers to adoption, expected impacts of adoption, and effects of policy on adoption. Questions about regulations discriminated between five e-bike types: pedal-assist, throttle-assist, scooter-style, electric recumbents, and enclosed electric recumbents. Results indicate strong agreement among industry stakeholders that scooter-style e-bikes require separate and additional regulation from other types of e-bikes and from existing regulation in BC. In contrast, there was misalignment in the expected mode shift resulting from e-bike adoption, with government agencies least optimistic about diversion of automobile trips. Industry stakeholders broadly agreed on the need for speed regulation and viewed higher speeds as one of the least important benefits of e-bikes, which contrasts with past research on user perspectives. Policy recommendations include reclassifying scooter-style e-bikes, rebate or tax programs to reduce e-bike costs, further research on optimal e-bike speed limits, and continued support for improvements in general cycling infrastructure (a top priority for industry and user stakeholders).

Impact of rebate program for energy-efficient household appliances on consumer purchasing decisions: The case of electric rice cookers in South Korea

The global energy efficiency market is expanding, and efforts to distribute highly energy-efficient household appliances continue worldwide. It is important to understand consumer attitudes towards household appliances with different energy efficiencies in order to create energy savings effects in the household sector. This study analyses consumer preference for electric rice cookers, and assesses the energy-saving and emission-reduction effects of a rebate program in South Korea. The preference data was collected from choice experiments, and then analysed using a mixed logit model. Estimation results show that there is heterogeneity in consumer preference for all attributes of the rice cooker, and consumers place a high importance on price attribute. The rebate program in the rice cooker market also has a considerable effect on consumer purchase decisions, and results in an annual reduction of 83.88 GWh of electricity consumption and 37,200 tons of CO2e, when a 10% rebate is provided for 1st grade energy-efficiency products. Several policy implications for the energy-efficiency market and energy-labeling program are suggested, based on the results of the analysis.

Mothers at Work: The Fiscal Implications of the Proposed Ontario Childcare Rebate

January 10, 2019 — The Ontario government's proposed childcare rebate will offer working mothers relief and create a windfall of tax revenues for the federal government, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Mothers at Work: The Fiscal Implications of the Proposed Ontario Childcare Rebate” authors Jacob Kim and Alexandre Laurin find that the proposed program would induce more Ontario mothers to take on employment and thus increasing tax revenues for both the Ontario and federal governments. “The fiscal gains from increased employment would reduce the net cost of the proposed rebate to about $590 million over the long term in Ontario” says Laurin. However, the federal government, which would take no part in the program but would also benefit from more mothers in the workforce, would rake in a windfall fiscal gain of $1.1 billion per year in the long term.” The newly elected government in Ontario pledged in its electoral platform to implement a childcare rebate program, which would reimburse up to 75 percent of the childcare expenses of low-income families, with the childcare subsidy rate gradually declining as family income grows. This study examines the fiscal implications of the proposed tax rebate. At first, the fiscal cost of the proposed rebate would be, at most, $945 million per year. Then, we expect the proposed rebate to induce some mothers of young children — whose decisions to take on paid work are sensitive to childcare costs — to enter the workforce. Over the long run, as many as 112,787 additionally employed mothers would generate extra fiscal revenues for the Ontario government, reducing the net fiscal cost by about 38 percent, to $588 million annually. Furthermore, the employment gain would create a large fiscal windfall for the federal government — perhaps as much as $1.1 billion per year over the long run — exceeding by far the net provincial cost of the program. Unless the federal government is prepared to transfer these prospective increased revenues back to Ontario in support of childcare, “it appears the federal government may actually be better fiscally positioned to implement such a childcare rebate scheme, rather than the Ontario government,” says Laurin.

A game-theoretical analysis of joint-rebate strategies in platform-based retailing systems

Rebates are commonly used as one of the most important short-term promotion tactics in retailing industries. In this paper, we study a platform-based retail system consisting of a retail platform who provides a retail facility and a product seller who sells products through the retail platform. The seller pays rent and also a percentage of his revenue to the platform as commissions for using the facility and services of the platform. In a promotion program, both the retail platform and the seller have strategic options of either offering rebates individually or launching a joint rebate. The parties are free to choose their rebate amounts, if any, and their decisions are, therefore, handled as endogenous decisions in our model. We investigate the optimal rebate strategies and performance of each party in the retail system analytically. Research results show that, given an exogenous retail price and a commission rate, the platform and the seller may choose a unilateral rebate or a joint-rebate program. For any log-concave demand function, we prove that an equilibrium on rebates of the platform and the seller exists and is unique. Furthermore, several managerial insights are presented with regard to the selection of rebate programs. Finally, we address the endogenous pricing problem as an extension of the original problem.

Barriers and Motivators for Tractor ROPS Retrofitting in Iowa.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach conducted an assessment of Iowa farm operators' perceptions of the barriers and motivators when considering retrofitting tractors with rollover protective structures (ROPS). A statewide sample of approximately 2,000 farm operators was surveyed in the 2017 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll. A series of questions was asked to evaluate the importance of potential barriers to decisions to not retrofit a tractor and potential motivators that could influence the decision to retrofit or purchase a tractor with ROPS. The survey received a 48% response rate (999 responses). Among the 76% of Iowa farm operators who reported at least one pre-1985 tractor, only 18.6% reported that all of those tractors had ROPS. The remaining 81.4% had at least one tractor that did not have ROPS. Iowa farm operators' perceptions of the barriers and motivators when considering retrofitting tractors with ROPS are shared. The results of Iowa farm operators' perceptions will be used as Iowa State University Extension and Outreach prepares to align efforts with the National Tractor Safety Coalition and participate in the National ROPS Rebate Program, with the goal of reducing tractor fatalities.

Just for the turf of it: Turf replacement as a water conservation tool

In 2009, a water district located in southern California offered its retail customers an opportunity to participate in a rebate program to replace their turf. From 2009 to 2015, 227 retail customers participated in the water agency9s Turf Replacement Program, where 166,499 m² (792,185 ft²) of turf was removed. An analysis was conducted to evaluate the water savings related to removing turf and replacing it with drought tolerant landscape. Difference in Difference design and a time component were utilized to identify how many neighbors replaced their turf after the participant did, also known as the neighborhood multiplier effect. Neighbor controls were incorporated into the analysis as the program ran during a significant drought in California. One year before starting the program, the average annual water usage was 1,437.93 m³ (1.17 acre-feet [ac-ft]) for 193 of the participating customers. One year after each customer participated, the average water usage was 1,045.74 m³ (0.85 ac-ft). The average reduction of water usage per customer (392.19 m³ [~ 0.32 ac-ft]) is statistically significant at the 0.01 level (paired <i>t</i>-test, <i>T</i> = 9.797, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001). When comparing the differences in usage between the program participants and the neighbor controls (Difference in Difference approach), we see that the difference in usage (after-before) is statistically significant between the two groups (<i>t</i>-test unequal variances, <i>T</i> = −5.655, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001). The results also indicate that with a greater area of turfgrass replaced, there was significantly less water savings. In this study, the multiplier effect was analyzed. The multiplier is a factor of proportionality that measures how many neighbors switched out their turf because their neighbor (participant) switched out their turf. On average, 2.5 neighbors out of the boundary (on average included 13 neighbors) switched their turf after the participant replaced their turf (<i>Z</i>-test, <i>Z</i> = 6.46, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001). With investment of public monies, transparency in program results and benefits should be a priority. To do this, managers should focus on collecting more data to help address some of the confounding variables and explain some of the trend relationships found in this study for their turf replacement programs. Such data could include measuring the total area of the yard that can be landscaped and finding information about plans for the rest of the yard.

Could a bioenergy program stimulate electric vehicle market penetration? Potential impacts of biogas to electricity annual rebate program

AbstractThe biogas‐to‐electricity pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) allows for Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits to be generated when electricity produced from biogas is used in the transportation sector. Though approved as a general pathway, EPA has proposed multiple credit allocation methods to functionalize this pathway. This study describes and evaluates a potential credit allocation framework where vehicle manufacturers generate electricity RIN (E‐RIN) credits and use these credits to increase the sales of plug‐in electric vehicles (PEVs). Under this framework, manufacturers use part of the credit value to reimburse electricity generators, offsetting potential higher biogas electricity generation cost. The remaining credit value is passed on to consumers as an annual PEV rebate to stimulate PEV sales. An iterative simulation framework is developed to fulfill two tasks: (a) to estimate the annual rebate amounts and their upfront value to consumers based on various factors, such as vehicle mileage, E‐RIN equivalence value, and biogas capacity, and (b) to evaluate potential impacts of the E‐RIN program on electrification of the future light‐duty vehicles (LDVs) and energy use. The annual rebate amount varies by vehicle technology and could be up to $870/year for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and range between $230 and 825/year for plug‐in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) depending on the electric range. These per vehicle rebates decrease when demand for electricity exceeds biogas electricity availability. The effectiveness of the program as modeled here is subject to different factors, such as the E‐RIN equivalence value, biogas electricity generation cost, biogas electricity generation capacity, and consumers’ valuation of the E‐RIN rebate. Our modeling results indicate that an E‐RIN program has the potential to produce nearly $12 billion in E‐RIN credits annually and to significantly increase PEV annual sales by up to 2.3 million and the PEV population by about 19.7 million in 2030.

How behavioral and geographic heterogeneity affects economic and environmental benefits of efficient appliances

The economic and environmental benefits of efficiency are typically assessed assuming that all consumers use appliances in the same way. There are, however, significant differences in consumer usage patterns, as well as geographical variability in prices and environmental impacts of electricity. To explore the importance of heterogeneity, we first develop distributions of consumer-by-consumer economic benefits from purchasing an efficient versus standard appliance for televisions, clothes washers, and dryers in the U.S. We find large variability, e.g. for washers and dryers, 9% and 7.5% of the U.S. population do not save money over the lifetime of an efficient device, while 11% and 17% save more than twice that of an average consumer. Providing personalized savings information can thus inform and better motivate those consumers who would save more. Abatement costs for carbon and electricity use are similarly heterogenous as consumer economic benefits, indicating that adoption by heavy users is in the public as well as private interest. The cost of abating carbon via a utility appliance rebate program varies greatly by consumer. To scope the emission benefits of targeted adoption, we find that adoption by heavy users saves around 3 times more carbon than an average user for 10% participation in an efficiency program.

Spillover Mechanisms in the WIC Infant Formula Rebate Program

Abstract This paper explores the WIC infant formula rebate program, which awards a single-source contract to the firm that offers the lowest net bid price. We study spillover mechanisms derived from instances when an infant formula manufacturer displaces another as a WIC supplier. The analysis compares three types of product segments: infant formula (where WIC is the main player), non-WIC infant formula, and toddler formula. We find that, immediately after the contract displacement, there is a significant increase in market share for all three types of formula for the winning manufacturer and that this effect increases overtime. These market share effects are likely explained by greater shelf space, better product placement, and the advantages of carrying WIC labels, as well as by a combined impact of recommendations from physicians and WIC participants. More interestingly, we observe that winning manufacturers increase the price of WIC and non-WIC infant formula over time. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that the profit that the WIC-contract manufacturer derives from these spillovers in other product segments more than dominates the losses associated to selling the WIC product below cost. We also discuss the implications that the spillover effects have on displaced (former WIC) manufacturers.

A Two-Step Methodology for Free Rider Mitigation with an Improved Settlement Algorithm: Regression in CBL Estimation and New Incentive Payment Rule in Residential Demand Response

Recent demand response (DR) research efforts have focused on reducing the peak demand, and thereby electricity prices. Load reductions from DR programs can be viewed as equivalent electricity generation by conventional means. Thus, utility companies must pay incentives to customers who reduce their demand accordingly. However, many key variables intrinsic to residential customers are significantly more complicated compared to those of commercial and industrial customers. Thus, residential DR programs are economically difficult to operate, especially because excess incentive settlements can result in free riders, who get incentives without reducing their loads. Improving baseline estimation accuracy is insufficient to solve this problem. To alleviate the free rider problem, we proposed an improved two-step method—estimating the baseline load using regression and implementing a minimum-threshold payment rule. We applied the proposed method to data from residential customers participating in a peak-time rebate program in Korea. It initially suffered from numerous free riders caused by inaccurate baseline estimation. The proposed method mitigated the issue by reducing the number of free riders. The results indicate the possibility of lowering the existing incentive payment. The findings indicate that it is possible to run more stable residential DR programs by mitigating the uncertainty associated with customer electricity consumption.

Targeting with machine learning: An application to a tax rebate program in Italy

This paper shows how machine learning (ML) methods can be used to improve the effectiveness of public schemes and inform policy decisions. Focusing on a massive tax rebate scheme introduced in Italy in 2014, it shows that the effectiveness of the program would have significantly increased if the beneficiaries had been selected according to a transparent and easily interpretable ML algorithm. Then, some issues in estimating and using ML for the actual implementation of public policies, such as transparency and accountability, are critically discussed.

The value of residential energy efficiency in interior Alaska: A hedonic pricing analysis

Residents of Interior Alaska are faced with a cold climate and relatively high energy prices, which results in high home energy expenditures. Increasing the energy efficiency of the housing stock can help reduce household energy expenditures. Following a spike in oil prices in 2008, legislation was passed, which created the Home Energy Rebate Program. Homeowners participating in the program were eligible to receive up to a $10,000 rebate for preapproved home energy efficiency improvements. This paper examines the effect of the Home Energy Rebate program on the selling prices of single-family residences in the Fairbanks North Star Borough from 2008 through 2015 using a hedonic pricing analysis. The results show that homes that completed the Home Energy Rebate program in the Fairbanks North Star Borough sell for a 15.1–16.5% price premium over similar homes that did not complete the program, which indicates that investments in residential energy efficiency are compensated. This is the first study to examine the impact of energy efficiency on house prices in a market with a subarctic climate.

Economic and environmental impacts of local utility-delivered industrial energy-efficiency rebate programs

Manufacturing operations are constantly encouraged to include energy-efficient practices into their plant operations, including through rebate programs that provide monetary rewards for firms who purchase and employ energy-efficient equipment in their facilities. This article presents a novel methodology for analyzing the cascading economic and environmental effects of an electric utility company's industrial energy-efficiency rebate programs and applies it to the case of a local utility located in the U.S. state of Ohio. It examines the utility's industrial rebate programs for lighting, motor, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and estimates the economic and environmental impacts of the programs using an input-output modeling framework. All three rebate programs provided a modest economic boost not only to directly involved equipment manufacturers and marketing service providers, but also to other upstream industries responding to the direct impact and the final demand augmented by the associated increase in value added in the regional economy. Emissions avoided as a result of electricity savings were found to outweigh additional emissions generated from the production of the energy-efficiency equipment in the region throughout the program years. However, if the full equipment purchase data were made available, the amount of added CO2 emissions would be larger.

Understanding Fundamental Phenomena Affecting the Water Conservation Technology Adoption of Residential Consumers Using Agent-Based Modeling

More than one billion people will face water scarcity within the next ten years due to climate change and unsustainable water usage, and this number is only expected to grow exponentially in the future. At current water use rates, supply-side demand management is no longer an effective way to combat water scarcity. Instead, many municipalities and water agencies are looking to demand-side solutions to prevent major water loss. While changing conservation behavior is one demand-based strategy, there is a growing movement toward the adoption of water conservation technology as a way to solve water resource depletion. Installing technology into one’s household requires additional costs and motivation, creating a gap between the overall potential households that could adopt this technology, and how many actually do. This study identified and modeled a variety of demographic and household characteristics, social network influence, and external factors such as water price and rebate policy to see their effect on residential water conservation technology adoption. Using Agent-based Modeling and data obtained from the City of Miami Beach, the coupled effects of these factors were evaluated to examine the effectiveness of different pathways towards the adoption of more water conservation technologies. The results showed that income growth and water pricing structure, more so than any of the demographic or building characteristics, impacted household adoption of water conservation technologies. The results also revealed that the effectiveness of rebate programs depends on conservation technology cost and the affluence of the community. Rebate allocation did influence expensive technology adoption, with the potential to increase the adoption rate by 50%. Additionally, social network connections were shown to have an impact on the rate of adoption independent of price strategy or rebate status. These findings will lead the way for municipalities and other water agencies to more strategically implement interventions to encourage household technology adoption based on the characteristics of their communities.