Self-Enforcing Agreements under Unequal Nationally Determined Contributions

For a large global economy with normal goods, and an unequal world income distribution, we consider the endogenous formation and stability of an international environmental agreement (IEA) under nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Nations share green R&D efforts and enjoy R&D spillovers if they join an IEA. Nonmembers do not enjoy R&D spillovers. We show that the Grand Coalition is stable under NDCs if all nations are active carbon abatement and R&D contributors. If some nations are inactive, because they lack sufficient income to provide carbon abatement and R&D, the stable coalition under NDCs is the coalition of all active (wealthier) nations

Decentralized Leadership

This paper studies the efficiency of decentralized leadership in federations where selfish regional governments provide regional and federal public goods and the benevolent central government implements interregional earmarked and income transfers. Without residential mobility, unlimited decentralized leadership is efficient only if the center implements redistributive interregional income and earmarked transfers to equate consumption of private and regional public goods across regions. Such policies perfectly align the incentives of the selfish regional governments. With imperfect residential mobility, decentralized leadership is efficient if the center adopts redistributive interregional income and earmarked policies and there is a common labor market in the federation

Abatement Innovation in a Cournot Oligopoly: Emission versus Output Tax Incentives

This study compares energy and emission taxes used to control pollution and provide incentives for the adoption of an advanced abatement technology in a Cournot oligopoly. We examine multistage games where the government may intervene in order to maximize social welfare by setting an environmental tax rate. When the government intervenes, it levies either an energy tax or an emission tax. We show that the effectiveness of either type of tax depends on the shape of the multiproduct technology. In the absence of economies of scope in the production of energy and abatement, the energy tax reduces pollution but is ineffective in promoting technological change. The emission tax reduces pollution and is effective in promoting technological change for sufficiently small fixed costs of adoption. In the presence of economies of scope, firms may adopt the efficient technology even in the absence of taxation. When taxation is necessary for innovation, both types of taxes are effective. However, the energy tax outperforms the emission tax in terms of innovation incentives

Optimal Timing in Rotten Kid Families

In a family context with endogenous timing, multiple public goods and alternative parental instruments, we show that the optimal timing for the sequential-action game played by rotten kids and a parent depends crucially on whether the kids are homogeneous or heterogeneous. For homogeneous kids, the rotten kid theorem holds irrespective of the parental policy instrument, implying that it is optimal to let the kids to be action leaders. If the kids are heterogeneous, however, parental leadership yields a first best outcome and, hence, it is optimal whenever the kids are economically dependent and agree on the tradeoff between public goods

An Equitable, Efficient and Implementable Scheme to Control Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions

We design an international scheme to control global carbon dioxide emissions in which autonomous developed and developing regions choose their own carbon dioxide emissions in anticipation of interregional resource transfers to be implemented by an international agency. This agency\u27s objective function obeys a proportional equity principle, which preserves the status-quo relative ranking of regional welfare levels. We show that it is individually rational for each region to participate in our proposed international scheme and that regional environmental authorities choose policies that internalize the global environmental externalities. These results are especially noteworthy in light of the call for international transfers from developed to developing countries in the Kyoto Protocol

Overlapping Climate Clubs under Transaction Costs

We examine the formation of multilateral, hub-and-spoke and bilateral international R&D strategic alliances (overlapping climate clubs) to reduce CO2 emissions. R&D provision in clubs produces two types of positive externalities: a global public good (i.e., reduction of CO2 emissions) and knowledge spillovers in joint R&D agreements. The latter is a club good. It is perfectly excludable. Its (direct) benefits are enjoyed by the club members only. Trust plays a central role in the type of alliance formation, if any at all. Lack of trust generates transaction costs, which increase with the number of R&D collaborators. We utilize the perfectly-coalition-proof-Nash equilibrium (PCPNE) concept to refine the set of Nash equilibria. Multilateral and hub-and-spoke coalitional structures are PCPNE, even in large economies containing all nations in the globe, in the absence of income transfers, for different values of transaction costs. With income transfers, fully participated multilateral coalitional structures are not stable; however, the size of the stable coalition increases as the economy expands

Asymmetric Innovation Agreements under Environmental Regulation

In a domestic market, a duopoly produces a homogeneous final good, pollution, pollution abatement and R&D. One of the firms (foreign) has superior technology. The government regulates the duopoly by levying a pollution tax to maximize domestic welfare. We consider the potential implementation of three innovation agreements: cooperative research joint venture (RJV), non-cooperative RJV and licensing. In the cooperative (non-cooperative) RJV, the firms (do not) internalize R&D spillovers. We show that, for the domestic firm, the cooperative RJV dominates and licensing is the least desirable alternative. Although licensing is dominant for the foreign firm, it is not implementable. Both RJVs are implementable. While the non-cooperative RJV is more likely the greater the degrees of asymmetry (in terms of efficiency and R&D spillover rates) between the firms, the cooperative RJV is more likely the lower the degrees of asymmetry. Implementation of both types of RJVs improve the competitiveness of the domestic firm and welfare. A subsidy policy that induces the foreign firm to accept a feasible cooperative RJV when it strictly prefers a feasible non-cooperative RJV is always welfare improving