Shinji Kaneko

To prevent further increases in energy consumption, the government of Iran commenced energy subsidy reform in 2010. This paper investigates the fuel conservation effects of the reform in Iran using a homothetic translog cost function that provides estimates of the own- and cross-price elasticities of fuel demands. The percentage reduction in fuel demands is estimated using the likely effect of the reform on fuel prices. The results reveal that the reform may not be as successful as assumed. Under optimistic assumptions, the reform may reduce energy consumption marginally, and under pessimistic assumptions, it may increase energy consumption because of inelastic fuel demands and substantial substitution between fuels. JEL Classifications: C32, Q38, Q43

Iran has suffered ever-increasing domestic energy consumption, mostly because of its long-standing price control policy. To decelerate this trend, Iran began a reform on its energy subsidy system in December 2010. This paper examines the inflationary impact of the energy subsidy reform on different Iranian non-energy sectors and urban and rural households by making an updated input–output price model and deriving the energy price elasticities (the percentage change in price of non-energy sectors in response to a one percent change in price of energy carriers). The results show that full reform (increasing the domestic energy prices immediately to average regional market prices) would increase consumption prices by 54.1% that impresses the expenditures of urban households more. In addition, the manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, basic metal industries, and transport, storage and communication sectors would experience the largest increase in production prices. Finally, electricity, natural gas and gasoline have the largest impact on production prices. JEL Classification: A11, H70, H71