IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v104y2021ics0140988321005181.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is carbon pricing regressive? Insights from a recursive-dynamic CGE analysis with heterogeneous households for Austria

Author

Listed:
  • Mayer, Jakob
  • Dugan, Anna
  • Bachner, Gabriel
  • Steininger, Karl W.

Abstract

We explore the macroeconomic and distributional impacts of unilateral carbon pricing in Austrian economic sectors, which are not covered by the EU emission trading scheme ETS, under various assumptions of revenue usage. We use a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model with twelve groups of private households, differentiated by income quartile and location of residence. Pricing of non-ETS CO2 emissions without any targeted compensation of households turns out to be progressive (when measured in equivalent variation, or welfare) with households living in the periphery being affected the most. This outcome is explained by the dominating progressive factor income effect, which works against regressive consumer price impacts. Considering the positive contribution to welfare from increased public goods provision, low-income households are even better off than without carbon pricing. We compare the revenue usage options ‘no targeted compensation’ with either unconditional or revenue-neutral ‘eco-bonus per capita payments’ as well as revenue-neutral cuts in either ‘labor tax rates’ or ‘value added tax rates.’ We discuss our results from a Utilitarian, Rawlsian and polarization-averse equity perspective. Applying equal weights to the criteria ‘environmental effectiveness’, ‘cost effectiveness’, ‘public budget’ and ‘welfare’, Rawlsian decision makers would prefer the no targeted compensation option. Otherwise, the revenue usage option of revenue-neutral cuts in labor tax rates balance best investigated multiple criteria.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayer, Jakob & Dugan, Anna & Bachner, Gabriel & Steininger, Karl W., 2021. "Is carbon pricing regressive? Insights from a recursive-dynamic CGE analysis with heterogeneous households for Austria," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:104:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321005181
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105661
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988321005181
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105661?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Grubb & Paul Drummond & Alexandra Poncia & Will Mcdowall & David Popp & Sascha Samadi & Cristina Penasco & Kenneth Gillingham & Sjak Smulders & Matthieu Glachant & Gavin Hassall & Emi Mizuno &, 2021. "Induced innovation in energy technologies and systems: a review of evidence and potential implications for CO 2 mitigation," Post-Print hal-03189044, HAL.
    2. van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. & Botzen, W.J.W., 2015. "Monetary valuation of the social cost of CO2 emissions: A critical survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 33-46.
    3. Jakob, Michael & Chen, Claudine & Fuss, Sabine & Marxen, Annika & Rao, Narasimha D. & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2016. "Carbon Pricing Revenues Could Close Infrastructure Access Gaps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 254-265.
    4. Don Fullerton, 2011. "Six Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 923-929, June.
    5. Beck, Marisa & Rivers, Nicholas & Wigle, Randall & Yonezawa, Hidemichi, 2015. "Carbon tax and revenue recycling: Impacts on households in British Columbia," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 40-69.
    6. Beck, Marisa & Rivers, Nicholas & Yonezawa, Hidemichi, 2016. "A rural myth? Sources and implications of the perceived unfairness of carbon taxes in rural communities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 124-134.
    7. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 1-42, January.
    8. Robert S. Pindyck, 2013. "Climate Change Policy: What Do the Models Tell Us?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 860-872, September.
    9. Elvire Guillaud & Matthew Olckers & Michaël Zemmour, 2020. "Four Levers of Redistribution: The Impact of Tax and Transfer Systems on Inequality Reduction," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(2), pages 444-466, June.
    10. Andrea Baranzini & Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh & Stefano Carattini & Richard B. Howarth & Emilio Padilla & Jordi Roca, 2017. "Carbon pricing in climate policy: seven reasons, complementary instruments, and political economy considerations," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(4), July.
    11. John C. V. Pezzey, 2019. "Why the social cost of carbon will always be disputed," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), January.
    12. Thomas Douenne, 2020. "The Vertical and Horizontal Distributive Effects of Energy Taxes: A Case Study of a French Policy," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 231-254.
    13. Ferris, Michael C. & Munson, Todd S., 2000. "Complementarity problems in GAMS and the PATH solver," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 165-188, February.
    14. Terry Barker & Jonathan Köhler, 1998. "Equity and ecotax reform in the EU: achieving a 10 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions using excise duties," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 375-402, November.
    15. Christoph Böhringer, Xaquin Garcia-Muros, and Mikel González-Eguino, 2019. "Greener and Fairer: A Progressive Environmental Tax Reform for Spain," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    16. K. Farmer & K.W. Steininger, 1999. "Reducing CO2-Emissions Under Fiscal Retrenchment: A Multi-Cohort CGE-Model for Austria," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(3), pages 309-340, April.
    17. Christoph Boehringer & Sonja Peterson & Thomas F. Rutherford & Jan Schneider & Malte Winkler, 2021. "Climate Policies after Paris: Pledge, Trade and Recycle Insights from the 36th Energy Modeling Forum Study (EMF36)," Working Papers V-434-21, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised May 2021.
    18. Lawrence Goulder, 1995. "Environmental taxation and the double dividend: A reader's guide," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 2(2), pages 157-183, August.
    19. Fiorito, Riccardo & Kollintzas, Tryphon, 2004. "Public goods, merit goods, and the relation between private and government consumption," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1367-1398, December.
    20. Robert S. Pindyck, 2017. "The Use and Misuse of Models for Climate Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(1), pages 100-114.
    21. Nordhaus, William D., 1993. "Rolling the 'DICE': an optimal transition path for controlling greenhouse gases," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 27-50, March.
    22. Jan Christoph Steckel & Sebastian Renner & Leonard Missbach, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 22(05), pages 26-32, September.
    23. Michael Jakob & Claudine Chen & Sabine Fuss & Annika Marxen & Narasimha Rao & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2015. "Using Carbon Pricing Revenues to Finance Infrastructure Access," Working Papers 2015.94, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    24. Jeroen den Bergh & Ivan Savin, 2021. "Correction to: Impact of Carbon Pricing on Low-Carbon Innovation and Deep Decarbonisation: Controversies and Path Forward," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(4), pages 717-717, December.
    25. Thomas F. Rutherford & David G. Tarr, 2014. "Poverty effects of Russia's WTO accession: Modeling “real” households with endogenous productivity effects," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: APPLIED TRADE POLICY MODELING IN 16 COUNTRIES Insights and Impacts from World Bank CGE Based Projects, chapter 12, pages 287-306, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    26. Stefan Ederer & Stefan Humer & Stefan Jestl & Emanuel List, 2020. "Distributional National Accounts (DINA) with Household Survey Data: Methodology and Results for European Countries," wiiw Working Papers 180, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    27. David Klenert & Linus Mattauch & Emmanuel Combet & Ottmar Edenhofer & Cameron Hepburn & Ryan Rafaty & Nicholas Stern, 2018. "Making carbon pricing work for citizens," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 669-677, August.
    28. Rausch, Sebastian & Metcalf, Gilbert E. & Reilly, John M., 2011. "Distributional impacts of carbon pricing: A general equilibrium approach with micro-data for households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 20-33.
    29. Florian Landis, 2019. "Cost distribution and equity of climate policy in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 155(1), pages 1-28, December.
    30. Böhringer, Christoph & Rutherford, Thomas F. & Schneider, Jan, 2021. "The incidence of CO2 emissions pricing under alternative international market responses," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    31. Böhringer, Christoph & Peterson, Sonja & Rutherford, Thomas F. & Schneider, Jan & Winkler, Malte, 2021. "Climate policies after Paris: Pledge, Trade and Recycle," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    32. Jeroen den Bergh & Ivan Savin, 2021. "Impact of Carbon Pricing on Low-Carbon Innovation and Deep Decarbonisation: Controversies and Path Forward," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(4), pages 705-715, December.
    33. Jan C. Steckel & Ira I. Dorband & Lorenzo Montrone & Hauke Ward & Leonard Missbach & Fabian Hafner & Michael Jakob & Sebastian Renner, 2021. "Distributional impacts of carbon pricing in developing Asia," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 1005-1014, November.
    34. Wilfried Puwein, 2009. "Preise und Preiselastizitäten im Verkehr," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 82(10), pages 779-798, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Managing the distributional effects of climate policies: A narrow path to a just transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    3. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2022. "Rendre acceptable la nécessaire taxation du carbone. Quelles pistes pour la France ?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 15-53.
    4. Gabriel Bachner & Jakob Mayer & Laura Fischer & Elisabeth Frei & Karl W. Steininger & Mark Sommer & Angela Köppl & Stefan Schleicher, 2021. "Application of the Concept of "Functionalities" in Macroeconomic Modelling Frameworks – Insights for Austria and Methodological Lessons Learned. EconTrans Working Paper #4," WIFO Working Papers 636, WIFO.
    5. Campagnolo, Lorenza & De Cian, Enrica, 2022. "Distributional consequences of climate change impacts on residential energy demand across Italian households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. Berger, Johannes & Strohner, Ludwig, 2022. "Extensions of the Energy PUblic Policy Model for Austria and other European countries E-(PuMA)," Research Papers 19, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Kelly Bruin & Aykut Mert Yakut, 2023. "The Impacts of Removing Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Increasing Carbon Taxation in Ireland," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(3), pages 741-782, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kirchner, Mathias & Sommer, Mark & Kratena, Kurt & Kletzan-Slamanig, Daniela & Kettner-Marx, Claudia, 2019. "CO2 taxes, equity and the double dividend – Macroeconomic model simulations for Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 295-314.
    2. Weiner, Csaba & Muth, Dániel & Lakócai, Csaba, 2023. "A szén-dioxid-kibocsátást terhelő adó társadalmi elfogadottsága és a fizetési hajlandóság alakulása Magyarországon [Public acceptance of and willingness to pay for a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1077-1107.
    3. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Managing the distributional effects of climate policies: A narrow path to a just transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    4. Dorband, Ira Irina & Jakob, Michael & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Steckel, Jan Christoph, 2019. "Poverty and distributional effects of carbon pricing in low- and middle-income countries – A global comparative analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 246-257.
    5. Ravigné, Emilien & Ghersi, Frédéric & Nadaud, Franck, 2022. "Is a fair energy transition possible? Evidence from the French low-carbon strategy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    6. Böhringer, Christoph & Rutherford, Thomas F. & Schneider, Jan, 2021. "The incidence of CO2 emissions pricing under alternative international market responses," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Hinterlang, Natascha & Martin, Anika & Röhe, Oke & Stähler, Nikolai & Strobel, Johannes, 2022. "Using energy and emissions taxation to finance labor tax reductions in a multi-sector economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Sommer, Stephan & Mattauch, Linus & Pahle, Michael, 2022. "Supporting carbon taxes: The role of fairness," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    9. Jan Siegmeier & Linus Mattauch & Max Franks & David Klenert & Anselm Schultes & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2015. "A Public Finance Perspective on Climate Policy: Six Interactions That May Enhance Welfare," Working Papers 2015.31, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    10. Fouquet, Roger & O'Garra, Tanya, 2022. "In pursuit of progressive and effective climate policies: Comparing an air travel carbon tax and a frequent flyer levy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    11. Missbach, Leonard & Steckel, Jan Christoph & Ward, Hauke, 2023. "Assessing distributional effects of carbon pricing in Israel," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    12. Missbach, Leonard & Steckel, Jan Christoph & Vogt-Schilb, Adrien, 2023. "Cash transfers in the context of carbon pricing reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12536, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Schaffitzel, Filip & Jakob, Michael & Soria, Rafael & Vogt-Schilb, Adrien & Ward, Hauke, 2020. "Can government transfers make energy subsidy reform socially acceptable? A case study on Ecuador," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. Mathias Kirchner & Mark Sommer & Claudia Kettner-Marx & Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig & Katharina Köberl & Kurt Kratena, 2018. "CO2 Tax Scenarios for Austria. Impacts on Household Income Groups, CO2 Emissions, and the Economy," WIFO Working Papers 558, WIFO.
    15. Johne, Clara & Schröder, Enno & Ward, Hauke, 2023. "The distributional effects of a nitrogen tax: Evidence from Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    16. García-Muros, Xaquín & Morris, Jennifer & Paltsev, Sergey, 2022. "Toward a just energy transition: A distributional analysis of low-carbon policies in the USA," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    17. Liotta,Charlotte & Avner,Paolo & Viguié,Vincent & Selod,Harris & Hallegatte,Stephane, 2022. "Climate Policy and Inequality in Urban Areas : Beyond Incomes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10185, The World Bank.
    18. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 1-42, January.
    19. Dugan, Anna & Mayer, Jakob & Thaller, Annina & Bachner, Gabriel & Steininger, Karl W., 2022. "Developing policy packages for low-carbon passenger transport: A mixed methods analysis of trade-offs and synergies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    20. Fæhn, Taran & Yonezawa, Hidemichi, 2021. "Emission targets and coalition options for a small, ambitious country: An analysis of welfare costs and distributional impacts for Norway," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carbon pricing; CO2 pricing; Distributional effects; Revenue use; Computable general equilibrium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C68 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computable General Equilibrium Models
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:104:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321005181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.