City Silhouette, World Climate

Abstract

A country's urban silhouettes prophesy its future climate policy, or so this paper argues. The more its city silhouettes are skewed to the periphery, the more likely a country is to implement the carbon tax. This is why the effect of a country's urban form on greenhouse gas emissions -- a bone of contention in the recent literature -- cannot be separated from that country's choice of carbon tax. From this paper's perspective, a country with greater city silhouette skews may emit less greenhouse gases not so much because its cities are more compact but because it places a higher price on carbon consumption