The Local Economic Impact of Wind Power Deployment

Arbeitspapier

Globally installed wind power capacity has grown tremendously since 2000. This study focuses on the local economic impacts of wind power deployment. A theoretical model shows that wind power deployment is not necessarily driven by locally-accruing economic payoffs, but also by other factors such as emphasis on environmentally-friendly energy production and its associated benefits. The theoretical analysis is followed by an empirical analysis using German county-level panel data. After controlling for a set of observable and unobservable factors, the results state that wind power installation has no impact on GDP per capita. These findings support the predictions from the theoretical model: local economic impacts cannot alone explain the observed increase in wind power capacity.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 9025

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Alternative Energy Sources ; Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models
• Subject: wind power ; economic development ; panel data

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): May, Nils ; Nilsen, Øivind Anti
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/110750
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET