The Role of Information Provision as a Policy Instrument to Supplement Environmental Taxes: Empowering Consumers to Choose Optimally

The present paper examines, within a dynamic framework, the use of information provision as a policy instrument to supplement environmental taxation. We assume that at least a fraction of consumers do not posses the required information to make the optimal choices, and that their behavior at each time period depends on the accumulated stock of information. We show that, as the accumulated stock of information provision increases, both the optimal level of information provided at each period of time and the optimal tax rate decline over time. Our results provide strong evidence in support of information campaigns as a policy instrument to supplement traditional environmental policies. Information provision can shift the demand towards environmentally friendly products over time and thus, reduce the required level of the tax rate.Information Provision, Environmental Taxation

Stable International Environmental Agreements: An Analytical Approach

In this paper we examine the formation of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs). We show that the welfare of the signatories does not increase monotonically with respect to the number of signatories. We provide an analytical solution of the leadership model. In particular, we find that the unique stable IEA consist of either two, three or four signatories if the number of countries is greater than 4. Furthermore, we show that the welfare of the signatories is almost at its lowest level when the IEA is stable. While in our model countries’ choice variable is emissions, we extend our results to the case where the choice variable is abatement efforts.

Corruption and Environmental Policy: An Alternative Perspective

We construct an overlapping generations model in which agents live through two periods; childhood and adulthood. Each agent makes choices only as an adult, based on her utility that depends on her own consumption and the human capital and environmental quality endowed to her offspring. Entering adulthood, agents choose randomly between two occupations: citizens and politicians. Citizens are the only producers of a single good and choose the proportion of their income to declare to the tax authorities. Politicians decide upon the allocation of the tax revenue between environmental protection and education activities, taking as given the rates of peculation in each activity. In this context, two self-fulfilling stable equilibria can emerge, one associated with high and another with low corruption. Corrupted politicians induce high levels of tax evasion, reducing total public funds and thus environmental protection activities. This result is in accordance with existing empirical evidence and implies that environmental policies may fail in corrupt countries where they are used as means of supporting rent seeking activities instead of protecting the environment. A higher level political authority could intervene and force the low corruption equilibrium by choosing the appropriate tax rate and, through institutional changes, the rates of peculation.Corruption, Environmental Policy

Permis d’émission négociables et réglementation dans des marchés de concurrence imparfaite

Cette étude présente un duopole de Cournot soumis à une réglementation environnementale. Deux types d’approche sont étudiés : l’approche « ordre et contrôle » et les permis d’émission négociables. L’analyse démontre qu’un système de permis d’émission négociables est plus efficace que l’approche « ordre et contrôle » quand le marché des permis est concurrentiel, mais qu’il est moins efficace quand une des entreprises est capable de fixer le prix dans le marché des permis. Dans un duopole à la Cournot, l’entreprise capable de fixer le prix des permis cherche à faire augmenter les coûts de son concurrent afin d’augmenter sa part du marché des produits. Dans un système de permis d’émission négociables, l’État peut initialement vendre les permis aux enchères ou les distribuer sans frais (grandfathering). Il est démontré que lorsque le marché des permis est concurrentiel, les deux systèmes d’allocation initiale des permis sont efficaces, tandis que lorsqu’il y a pouvoir de marché, la vente aux enchères est plus efficace que la distribution gratuite des permis.This paper develops a model of a homogeneous Cournot duopoly subject to environmental regulation. Two systems of regulation are examined. A source-specific system (command and control) and a market-based system (tradeable emission permits). It is shown that tradeable emission permits are more efficient than command and control when the permit market is competitive but that it is less efficient when one of the duopolists is a price setter in the permit market. Under Cournot conjectures, the price setter in the permits market seeks to raise its rival's costs in order to increase its market share. Under a tradeable emission permits system, the government can either initially auction the permits or distribute them free of charge (grandfathering). It is shown that with a competitive permit market, both types of initial allocation are efficient. However, with a price setter in the permit market, auctioning is more efficient than grandfathering

Uncertainty and the Double Dividend Hypothesis

This paper examines the double dividend hypothesis in the presence of labour income uncertainty. Empirical evidence shows that uncertainty over labour income is particularly significant in developing, while not negligible in developed countries. Under uncertainty, and assuming incomplete capital markets, the tax system plays a role in providing social insurance and a green tax reform influences its effectiveness. We show that the increase in environmental tax reduces consumption risk while the balanced budget decrease in labour income tax increases income risk. We find that the total welfare effect of a green tax reform differs substantially from the case of certainty. The critical parameters determining the existence of a second dividend are the lump sum transfers, the relative substitutability of the two goods for leisure and the initial tax rates relative to their optimal that determine also the response of labour supply to a change in the tax mix

An Economic Model for Bioprospecting Contracts

This paper explores the use of a micro-economic model to analyse the provisions and parties of bioprospecting contracts. It focuses on the pharmaceutical industry as the representative biodiversity buyer, presenting an original theoretical framework that explains the main contract characteristics or stylised facts. Against this background, it considers the main contractors involved in these private contracts, i.e. biodiversity sellers and biodiversity buyers, analysing both the magnitude and distribution of the respective payoffs. Particular attention is devoted to the different, mixed impacts of bioprospecting contracts and patenting on social welfare. The positive welfare impacts delivered by bioprospecting contracts are associated with the potential discovery of a new drug product, i.e. productivity gains, non-monetary benefit-sharing or transfers and royalty revenues. The negative welfare impact results from the legal creation of a monopoly and the related well-known effect on the consumer surplus. Finally, the potential redistribution effects are limited, and a potential enforcement of this objective may jeopardise the desirability of the contracts since this action would lead to a significant increase in the transaction costs

International Environmental Agreements -The Role of Foresight

We examine the formation of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs). We extend the existing literature by endogenizing the reaction of the IEA's members to a deviation by a member or a group of members. We assume that when a country contemplates exiting or joining an agreement, it takes into account the reactions of other countries ignited by its own actions. We identify conditions under which there always exists a unique set of farsighted stable IEAs. The new farsighted IEAs can be much larger than those some of the previous models supported but are not always Pareto efficient. We extend the analysis to allow for coordinated action, that is, groups of countries jointly exiting or entering the agreement and fully characterize the coalitionally farsighted stable IEAs.International Environmental Agreements, Public good provision, Coalition formation, Foresight

International Environmental Agreements - The Role of Foresight

We examine the formation of International Environmental Agree- ments (IEAs). We extend the existing literature by endogenizing the reaction of the IEA's members to a deviation by a member or a group of members. We assume that when a country contemplates exiting or joining an agreement, it takes into account the reactions of other countries ignited by its own actions. We identify conditions under which there always exists a unique set of farsighted stable IEAs. The new farsighted IEAs can be much larger than those some of the previous models supported but are not always Pareto efficient. We extend the analysis to allow for coordinated action, that is, groups of countries jointly exiting or entering the agreement and fully characterize the coalitionally farsighted stable IEAs

Stable International Environmental Agreements: An Analytical Approach

In this paper we examine the formation of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs). We provide an analytical treatment of the leadership model used in the literature and offer a formal solution for it. We show that the welfare of the signatories does not increase monotonically with respect to the number of signatories. We find that the unique stable IEA consist of either two, three or four signatories if the number of countries is greater than 4. Furthermore, we show that the welfare of the signatories is almost at its lowest level when the IEA is stable. While in our model countries' choice variable is emissions, we extend our results to the case where the choice variable is abatement efforts