COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China

Abstract New energy vehicles are regarded as an important measure for improving air quality, reducing oil dependence, fostering emerging industries, and promoting high-quality development. Since 2009, the Chinese government has been committed to promoting new energy vehicles through various policy m...

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Main Authors: Xin Li, Lei Sun, Guangqin Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2024-02-01
Series:Environmental Sciences Europe
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-024-00871-3
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author Xin Li
Lei Sun
Guangqin Li
author_facet Xin Li
Lei Sun
Guangqin Li
author_sort Xin Li
collection DOAJ
description Abstract New energy vehicles are regarded as an important measure for improving air quality, reducing oil dependence, fostering emerging industries, and promoting high-quality development. Since 2009, the Chinese government has been committed to promoting new energy vehicles through various policy measures, such as fiscal subsidies. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019 has brought great impact on the economy and society. Thus, it is a topic of research to determine if the fiscal subsidy policy can assist new energy vehicles to resist the pandemic’s impact and build consumption resilience. Current researches lack enough attention to the role of fiscal subsidy policy in enhancing consumption resilience under the pandemic impact. By utilizing monthly sales data of new energy vehicles in Shanghai from January 2018 to February 2021, this study employs regression discontinuity (RD) analysis and the combination of the RD with the differences-in-differences (DID) model, to comprehensively evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new energy vehicle consumption and the effectiveness of fiscal subsidy policies in enhancing consumption resilience. The findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic shock, with a bandwidth of 3 months, led to a 23% decrease in new energy vehicles sales. In comparison with unsubsidized vehicles, sales of subsidized new energy vehicles significantly increased by 15–80% during the pandemic shock, indicating that fiscal subsidies are crucial in enhancing the consumption resilience of new energy vehicles. Compared with other country-specific new energy vehicles, the subsidy effect of domestic new energy vehicles is relatively inadequate during the pandemic shock. The retreat from subsidy policies has contributed to a decline in the consumption of new energy vehicles in response to the pandemic shock. It is necessary to further improve the consumption resilience of domestic new energy vehicles and pure electric vehicles.
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spelling doaj.art-9bf0462e39f945a0bbc06c074135cf772024-03-05T17:58:25ZengSpringerOpenEnvironmental Sciences Europe2190-47152024-02-0136112110.1186/s12302-024-00871-3COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, ChinaXin Li0Lei Sun1Guangqin Li2College of Business and Economics, Shanghai Business SchoolCollege of Business and Economics, Shanghai Business SchoolSchool of International Trade & Economics, Anhui University of Finance and EconomicsAbstract New energy vehicles are regarded as an important measure for improving air quality, reducing oil dependence, fostering emerging industries, and promoting high-quality development. Since 2009, the Chinese government has been committed to promoting new energy vehicles through various policy measures, such as fiscal subsidies. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019 has brought great impact on the economy and society. Thus, it is a topic of research to determine if the fiscal subsidy policy can assist new energy vehicles to resist the pandemic’s impact and build consumption resilience. Current researches lack enough attention to the role of fiscal subsidy policy in enhancing consumption resilience under the pandemic impact. By utilizing monthly sales data of new energy vehicles in Shanghai from January 2018 to February 2021, this study employs regression discontinuity (RD) analysis and the combination of the RD with the differences-in-differences (DID) model, to comprehensively evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new energy vehicle consumption and the effectiveness of fiscal subsidy policies in enhancing consumption resilience. The findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic shock, with a bandwidth of 3 months, led to a 23% decrease in new energy vehicles sales. In comparison with unsubsidized vehicles, sales of subsidized new energy vehicles significantly increased by 15–80% during the pandemic shock, indicating that fiscal subsidies are crucial in enhancing the consumption resilience of new energy vehicles. Compared with other country-specific new energy vehicles, the subsidy effect of domestic new energy vehicles is relatively inadequate during the pandemic shock. The retreat from subsidy policies has contributed to a decline in the consumption of new energy vehicles in response to the pandemic shock. It is necessary to further improve the consumption resilience of domestic new energy vehicles and pure electric vehicles.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-024-00871-3Pandemic shockFiscal subsidiesConsumption resilienceNew energy vehiclesRD-DID model
spellingShingle Xin Li
Lei Sun
Guangqin Li
COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China
Environmental Sciences Europe
Pandemic shock
Fiscal subsidies
Consumption resilience
New energy vehicles
RD-DID model
title COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China
title_full COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China
title_fullStr COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China
title_short COVID-19 shock, fiscal subsidies, and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles: evidence from Shanghai, China
title_sort covid 19 shock fiscal subsidies and consumption resilience of new energy vehicles evidence from shanghai china
topic Pandemic shock
Fiscal subsidies
Consumption resilience
New energy vehicles
RD-DID model
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-024-00871-3
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AT leisun covid19shockfiscalsubsidiesandconsumptionresilienceofnewenergyvehiclesevidencefromshanghaichina
AT guangqinli covid19shockfiscalsubsidiesandconsumptionresilienceofnewenergyvehiclesevidencefromshanghaichina