Building Back Better: How Big Are Green Spending Multipliers?

Author/Editor:

Nicoletta Batini ; Mario di Serio ; Matteo Fragetta ; Giovanni Melina ; Anthony Waldron

Publication Date:

March 19, 2021

Electronic Access:

Free Download. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

This paper provides estimates of output multipliers for spending in clean energy and biodiversity conservation, as well as for spending on non-ecofriendly energy and land use activities. Using a new international dataset, we find that every dollar spent on key carbon-neutral or carbon-sink activities can generate more than a dollar’s worth of economic activity. Although not all green and non-ecofriendly expenditures in the dataset are strictly comparable due to data limitations, estimated multipliers associated with spending on renewable and fossil fuel energy investment are comparable, and the former (1.1-1.5) are larger than the latter (0.5-0.6) with over 90 percent probability. These findings survive several robustness checks and lend support to bottom-up analyses arguing that stabilizing climate and reversing biodiversity loss are not at odds with continuing economic advances.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2021/087

Subject:

Frequency:

regular

English

Publication Date:

March 19, 2021

ISBN/ISSN:

9781513574462/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2021087

Pages:

47

Please address any questions about this title to publications@imf.org