Mit Ungeduld zu besseren Subventionen für umweltfreundliche Produkte

Subsidies for sustainable products are widely used environmental policy instruments. However, they are often inefficient, as they are distributed indiscriminately, benefiting inframarginal consumers who would purchase these products even without financial incentives. This reduces the funds available for marginal consumers who actually need the subsidies. An effective “screening” mechanism can improve efficiency by deterring inframarginal consumers through delayed approvals. Nevertheless, such approaches remain largely unutilised in practice. We analyse innovative solutions, such as a waiting-time auction, that can better target marginal consumers and discuss how these concepts can be integrated into existing subsidy structures.