Cash for Clunkers Program A Dud, Say Economists

A new study says that the bump in sales brought on by the Cash for Clunkers program was immediately followed by an equal plunge in sales, effectively wiping out the economic benefit.

1 minute read

September 5, 2010, 11:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Atif R. Mian of UC Berkeley and Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago have released a new study showing that although the Cash for Clunkers program caused a bump in sales, as soon as the offer was no longer available, car sales took a steep plunge of equal size. Mian and Sufi conclude that the only way this can be looked at as a success is if it was of benefit to the country to "steal" sales from future months.

Another economist argues in this NPR story that his research shows that many people were persuaded to buy significantly earlier than they intended otherwise, making the program a success.

Friday, September 3, 2010 in NPR

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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