Do local communities benefit from renewable energy? : evidence from the U.S. wind industry

Prior work estimates particular economic benefits associated with wind energy development in the United States, but few papers provide econometric estimates. Combining a dataset of geolocated windmills throughout the continental U.S. with county-level statistics on personal income and government revenue, I estimate the effect of a one megawatt increase in county-level installed wind power capacity using an instrumental variables approach. Panel two-stage least squares estimates demonstrate a 0.13 percent increase in personal income and a 0.25 percent increase in county government revenue per megawatt of installed capacity. Estimated gross economic benefits from 2001 to 2017 total to roughly $1,040 billion in additional personal income and $38 billion in additional government revenuePublic Affair