The policy that is most widely applied to the biofuel market in the world is the mandatory blend. This policy aims to induce the use of biofuels by setting a minimum level of biofuel per unit of blended fuel. This paper studies the costs and benefits of such a policy. To do so, a Recursive Computable General Equilibrium model (CGE), calibrated with a new own-developed energy-oriented Social Accounting Matrix of Argentina for 2018, has been developed. Such a model is extended by explicitly embedding a constrained fuel blending model into the CGE setup. This research addresses the following questions: What are the costs and benefits of a mandatory blend compared to a full flexibility scenario? Is it better to induce the use of biofuels through a tax on fossil fuels or a blending constraint? What is the impact of international price shocks when considering different blending regimes? This paper finds that the mandatory policy has a negative impact on the economic activity, poverty, income distribution, and energy affordability, but a positive one on emissions. When analysing the convenience of a special tax on fossil fuels instead of a mandatory regime, this paper finds that the cost and benefits of each policy are distributed differently over time. The special tax on fossil fuels performs better in the short run while the mandatory blend does so in the long run. Finally, this paper finds that flexibility in the fuel market improves the country's performance when there are shocks on international prices.

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刚性的代价是什么？阿根廷燃料市场的一般均衡研究


世界上生物燃料市场应用最广泛的政策是强制性混合。该政策旨在通过设定每单位混合燃料的生物燃料最低水平来诱导生物燃料的使用。本文研究了这种政策的成本和收益。为此，我们开发了一个递归可计算一般均衡模型 （CGE），该模型使用我们自己开发的新 2018 年阿根廷能源导向社会会计矩阵进行校准。通过将约束燃料混合模型显式嵌入到 CGE 设置中，可以扩展此类模型。本研究解决了以下问题：与完全灵活性方案相比，强制性混合的成本和收益是什么？通过对化石燃料征税还是混合限制来诱导生物燃料的使用更好？在考虑不同的混合制度时，国际价格冲击会产生什么影响？本文发现，强制性政策对经济活动、贫困、收入分配和能源可负担性有负面影响，但对排放有积极影响。在分析对化石燃料征收特别税而不是强制性制度的便利性时，本文发现，随着时间的推移，每项政策的成本和收益分布不同。对化石燃料征收特别税在短期内表现更好，而强制性混合税在长期内表现更好。最后，本文发现，当国际价格受到冲击时，燃料市场的灵活性可以提高该国的表现。