Energy costs in Europe: economists discuss policy options

In her September 2022 State of the Union address, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called for windfall taxes on energy companies’ profits. She also flagged the possibility of price caps to reduce household and business bills for gas and electricity, which have soared in recent months. Romesh Vaitilingam summarises the results of a survey by the Initiative on Global Markets, which invited US and European economists to express their views on the policy responses to the energy crisis. 

 
The survey of European economists took place in June 2022.  We asked the experts whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statements, and, if so, how strongly and with what degree of confidence:

1-A windfall tax on the excess profits of large oil and gas companies – with the revenue rebated to households – would be an efficient way to provide temporary relief for the average household in European countries from rising energy costs.

2-Fiscal measures putting a cap on consumer energy prices would be a more appropriate immediate response to increased inflation in the euro area than raising interest rates.

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Πηγή: blogs.lse.ac.uk