The effect of differentiated emission taxes: does an emission tax favor industry?

Extending a standard 2x2 Heckscher-Ohlin model to incorporate emissions, this paper investigates the effect of differentiated emission taxes on output and emissions in a small open economy. The following results are derived. First, raising the emission tax imposed on one industry may increase the output of that industry. This result is quite surprising in the sense that such a paradoxical result can occur in a simple and standard model under fairly plausible values of parameters. By numerical examples and using a graphical method, it is also shown that the mechanism behind the result is the factor market adjustment effects which work through two different channels. Second, while strengthening emission taxes uniformly across industries always reduces the volume of emissions, strengthening emission tax unevenly may increase it.differentiated taxes

Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions with Endogenous Emission Regulations: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

It is widely known that emissions of greenhouse gases from anthropogenic activities have been dramatically increasing at the unprecedented rate over the past several decades, and causing the global climate change. To assess the future trends of such global climate change, it is necessary to project future greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we explore the effects of further economic growth on CO2 emissions with the use of a multi-sector, multi-region global CGE model, and with explicit consideration to the endogeneity of emission regulations, i.e. the dependence of regulations on the level of income. The relationship between income level and emission regulations are derived from the consequence of the Kyoto Protocol type emission regulations. Our main finding is summarized as follows. Carbon taxes rise in all regions with economic growth because all regions, especially LDC regions, enjoy the rise in per capita income. However, the responsiveness of carbon taxes to income change is too weak to restrain the increase in emissions. In other words, given the degree of the responsiveness of regulations inferred from the acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol type regulations, carbon emissions are likely to increase all over the world along with further economic growth.The environmental Kuznets curve, CO2 emissions, carbon tax, endogenousregulation, economic growth

International Income Transfers under Technological Uncertainty

This paper examines the effects of international income transfers in the presence of technological uncertainty and shows the following results. First, a transfer paradox can occur only if the rates of return from assets are not equalized between the donor and the recipient. Second, the more risk-averse consumers are in both countries, the more likely a transfer paradox is to occur.Transfer, Uncertainty, Attitude toward risk

The Effects of Differentiated Emission Taxes

Extending the standard 2 x 2 Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model to include emission as the third production factor, we consider the effects of emission taxes on outputs and the level of emission. The following results are derived. First, an increase in emission tax imposed on one industry may paradoxically increase the outputs of the industry. Second, an increase in emission tax imposed on one industry may raise the total level of emission.Emission, the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model, differentiated emission taxes

Output-Based Allocation of Emissions Permits for Mitigating the Leakage and Competitiveness Issues for the Japanese Economy

The adoption of domestic emissions trading schemes (ETS) can impose a heavy burden on energy-intensive industries. In particular, energy-intensive industries competing with foreign competitors could lose their international edge. Although the abatement of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in industrialized countries entails the reduction of their energy-intensive production, a corresponding increase in the production of energy-intensive goods in countries without CO2 regulations may lead to carbon “leakage.” This paper examines the effects of various allocation methods for granting emissions permits in the Japanese ETS on the economy and CO2 emissions using a multiregional and multisector computable general equilibrium model. Specifically, we apply the Fischer and Fox (2007) model to the Japanese economy to address carbon leakage and competitiveness issues. We compare auction schemes, grandfathering schemes, and output-based allocation (OBA) schemes. We further extend the model by examining a combination of auctions and OBA. Though the auction scheme is found to be the best in terms of macroeconomic impacts (welfare and GDP effects), the leakage rate is high and the harm to energy-intensive sectors can be significant. OBA causes less leakage and damage to energy-intensive sectors, but the macroeconomic impact is undesirable. Considering all three effects—leakage, competitiveness, and macroeconomics—we find that combinations of auctions and OBA (with gratis allocations solely to energy-intensive, trade-exposed sectors) are desirable.climate change, emissions trading, emissions permit allocations, output-based allocation, auction, grandfathering, international competitiveness, carbon leakage, CGE analysis

Identification of G protein-coupled receptor genes from the human genome sequence

AbstractWe have identified novel G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) with no introns in the coding region from the human genome sequence: 322 olfactory receptors; 22 taste receptors; 128 registered GPCRs for endogenous ligands; 50 novel GPCR candidates homologous to registered GPCRs for endogenous ligands; and 59 novel GPCR candidates not homologous to registered GPCRs. The total number of GPCRs with and without introns in the human genome was estimated to be approximately 950, of which 500 are odorant or taste receptors and 450 are receptors for endogenous ligands

Regional Disparities in the Effects of Trade Liberalization: Computable general equilibrium analysis based on an inter-regional input-output table (Japanese)

Since the 1990s, computable general equilibrium analysis (CGE analysis) has been in widespread use as a tool for quantitative evaluation of the impact of trade policy, and many CGE analyses have evaluated the impact of trade liberalization at a macro level. However, no study has attempted to evaluate its impact at a regional level, that is, how trade liberalization affects individual Japanese regions. Given that trade liberalization is likely to generate highly dissimilar effects in different regions, and that regional disparities have been recognized as a serious problem in recent years, it is of great importance to analyze regions individually. Using a CGE model, this paper aims to elucidate the regional effects of trade liberalization in Japan. We use an inter-regional CGE model with 23 sectors and 8 domestic regions, and the Interregional Input-Output Table for Japan 2000 for the benchmark data. The main conclusions are as follows. First, trade liberalization increases welfare and GDP in Japan as a whole, a finding that is consistent with previous studies in this area. Second, the magnitude of the GDP and welfare effects differs significantly between regions. In particular, the Kanto, Chubu and Kinki regions have high rates of increase in both welfare and GDP, while the corresponding rates in Hokkaido, Tohoku and Kyushu-Okinawa are low or negative. Of particular note is that regional disparities in the welfare effect are very marked. In addition, not only were there regional disparities, but the higher (lower) a region's per capita GDP was, the higher (lower) were the benefits of liberalization. This means that trade liberalization exacerbates existing regional disparities. These results suggest that if the correction of regional disparity is made a policy goal, it would not be desirable for trade liberalization to be implemented alone, but rather it should be implemented in conjunction with an income-redistribution policy.

温室効果ガス排出規制の地域間CGE分析

Although many CGE models have already been developed for analyzing the climate policy in Japan, most of them only investigate national level impacts. However, impacts of emissions regulations are likely to vary considerably by region because there are large regional differences in household expenditure pattern and industry structure. To investigate regional impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions regulations in Japan, we construct a new multi-regional CGE model with 9 regions in Japan and estimate regional GHG emissions. We analyze impacts of 10% reduction of GHG on regional GDP, welfare and production. Our simulation shows that regions with the higher share of energy-intensive industries and thermal power generation incur the larger loss in GDP