IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i19p5147-d269532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal Environmental Tax Rate in an Open Economy with Labor Migration—An E-DSGE Model Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Ying Tung Chan

    (The Research Institute of Economics and Management, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract

Recent research has started to apply environmental dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (E-DSGE) models for climate policy analysis. However, all of the studies assume a closed economy setting, where there is no interaction of the economy with an outside economy; this paper fills the gap by constructing a two-city E-DSGE model that features labor migration. With the model, we solve for the optimal environmental tax rate determined by a Ramsey social planner, who maximizes household utility and takes into account the policy’s impact on labor migration. We find the following. (i) The optimal environmental tax rate should be more volatile and procyclical than the rates predicted in the aforementioned literature. (ii) In the closed economy setting, a higher environmental tax rate would always dampen production, while in our setting, it could stimulate output through deterring labor outflow and attracting labor inflow. (iii) We complement the existing literature by emphasizing that the optimal environmental tax rate in a city should respond not only to the shocks that occur internally, but also to those that occur in the opponent city. In particular, we find that it is optimal to reduce the environmental tax rate if a positive total factor productivity (TFP) shock occurs in the neighbor city.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Tung Chan, 2019. "Optimal Environmental Tax Rate in an Open Economy with Labor Migration—An E-DSGE Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-38, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:19:p:5147-:d:269532
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5147/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5147/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cai, Ruohong & Feng, Shuaizhang & Oppenheimer, Michael & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2016. "Climate variability and international migration: The importance of the agricultural linkage," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 135-151.
    2. Fischer, Carolyn & Springborn, Michael, 2011. "Emissions targets and the real business cycle: Intensity targets versus caps or taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 352-366.
    3. Di Maria, C. & van der Werf, E.H., 2005. "Carbon Leakage Revisited : Unilateral Climate Policy with Directed Technical Change," Discussion Paper 2005-68, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    4. Freeman, Richard & Liang, Wenquan & Song, Ran & Timmins, Christopher, 2019. "Willingness to pay for clean air in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 188-216.
    5. Jiang, Minxing & Zhu, Bangzhu & Wei, Yi-Ming & Chevallier, Julien & He, Kaijian, 2018. "An intertemporal carbon emissions trading system with cap adjustment and path control," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 152-161.
    6. Cropper, Maureen & Gamkhar, Shama & Malik, Kabir & Limonov, Alex & Partridge, Ian, 2012. "The Health Effects of Coal Electricity Generation in India," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-25, Resources for the Future.
    7. George Economides & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2018. "Monetary policy under climate change," Working Papers 247, Bank of Greece.
    8. Clark Gray & Richard Bilsborrow, 2013. "Environmental Influences on Human Migration in Rural Ecuador," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1217-1241, August.
    9. Maureen Cropper, 2010. "What Are the Health Effects of Air Pollution in China?," International Economic Association Series, in: Geoffrey Heal (ed.), Is Economic Growth Sustainable?, chapter 1, pages 10-46, Palgrave Macmillan.
    10. Wei Jin, 2012. "Can Technological Innovation Help China Take on Its Climate Responsibility? A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis," CAMA Working Papers 2012-51, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    11. Beine, Michel & Docquier, Frederic & Rapoport, Hillel, 2001. "Brain drain and economic growth: theory and evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 275-289, February.
    12. Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Zigan Wang, 2018. "Pollution and Human Capital Migration: Evidence from Corporate Executives," NBER Working Papers 24389, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Onno Kuik & Reyer Gerlagh, 2003. "Trade Liberalization and Carbon Leakage," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 97-120.
    14. Lawrence J. Christiano & Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno, 2014. "Risk Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 27-65, January.
    15. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September.
    16. Garth Heutel, 2012. "How Should Environmental Policy Respond to Business Cycles? Optimal Policy under Persistent Productivity Shocks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(2), pages 244-264, April.
    17. Squalli, Jay, 2010. "An empirical assessment of U.S. state-level immigration and environmental emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1170-1175, March.
    18. Jin, Wei, 2012. "Can technological innovation help China take on its climate responsibility? An intertemporal general equilibrium analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 629-641.
    19. Marek Antosiewicz & Piotr Lewandowski & Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks, 2016. "Input vs. Output Taxation—A DSGE Approach to Modelling Resource Decoupling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, April.
    20. Antimiani, Alessandro & Costantini, Valeria & Martini, Chiara & Salvatici, Luca & Tommasino, Maria Cristina, 2013. "Assessing alternative solutions to carbon leakage," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 299-311.
    21. Kazianga, Harounan & Udry, Christopher, 2006. "Consumption smoothing? Livestock, insurance and drought in rural Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 413-446, April.
    22. Corrado Maria & Edwin Werf, 2008. "Carbon leakage revisited: unilateral climate policy with directed technical change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(2), pages 55-74, February.
    23. Marek Antosiewicz & Piotr Lewandowski & Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks, 2016. "Input vs. Output Taxation—A DSGE Approach to Modelling Resource Decoupling," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, April.
    24. Jiang, Minxing & Zhu, Bangzhu & Wei, Yi-Ming & Chevallier, Julien & He, Kaijian, 2018. "An intertemporal carbon emissions trading system with cap adjustment and path control," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 152-161.
    25. Ding Li & Yan Zhang & Shuang Ma, 2017. "Would Smog Lead to Outflow of Labor Force? Empirical Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(5), pages 1122-1134, May.
    26. Gawande, Kishore & Bohara, Alok K. & Berrens, Robert P. & Wang, Pingo, 2000. "Internal migration and the environmental Kuznets curve for US hazardous waste sites," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 151-166, April.
    27. Annicchiarico, Barbara & Di Dio, Fabio, 2015. "Environmental policy and macroeconomic dynamics in a new Keynesian model," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-21.
    28. Xu Xu & Kevin Sylwester, 2016. "Environmental Quality and International Migration," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 157-180, February.
    29. Barbara Annicchiarico & Fabio Di Dio, 2017. "GHG Emissions Control and Monetary Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 823-851, August.
    30. Felder Stefan & Rutherford Thomas F., 1993. "Unilateral CO2 Reductions and Carbon Leakage: The Consequences of International Trade in Oil and Basic Materials," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 162-176, September.
    31. Dissou, Yazid & Karnizova, Lilia, 2016. "Emissions cap or emissions tax? A multi-sector business cycle analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 169-188.
    32. Aminu, Nasir, 2019. "Energy prices volatility and the United Kingdom: Evidence from a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 487-497.
    33. Bayer, Patrick & Keohane, Nathaniel & Timmins, Christopher, 2009. "Migration and hedonic valuation: The case of air quality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-14, July.
    34. M J Greenwood, 1973. "Urban Economic Growth and Migration: Their Interaction," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 5(1), pages 91-112, February.
    35. McDougall, Robert & Alla Golub, 2007. "GTAP-E: A Revised Energy-Environmental Version of the GTAP Model," GTAP Research Memoranda 2959, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    36. Jean-Marc Burniaux & Joaquim Oliveira Martins, 2000. "Carbon Emission Leakages: A General Equilibrium View," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 242, OECD Publishing.
    37. Burniaux, Jean-Marc & Truong Truong, 2002. "GTAP-E: An Energy-Environmental Version of the GTAP Model," GTAP Technical Papers 923, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    38. Babiker, Mustafa H., 2005. "Climate change policy, market structure, and carbon leakage," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 421-445, March.
    39. Burniaux, Jean-March & Truong, Truong P., 2002. "Gtap-E: An Energy-Environmental Version Of The Gtap Model," Technical Papers 28705, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    40. Chen, Yong & Irwin, Elena G. & Jayaprakash, Ciriyam, 2009. "Dynamic modeling of environmental amenity-driven migration with ecological feedbacks," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2498-2510, August.
    41. Niu, Tong & Yao, Xilong & Shao, Shuai & Li, Ding & Wang, Wenxi, 2018. "Environmental tax shocks and carbon emissions: An estimated DSGE model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 9-17.
    42. J. Farmer & Cameron Hepburn & Penny Mealy & Alexander Teytelboym, 2015. "A Third Wave in the Economics of Climate Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(2), pages 329-357, October.
    43. Balke, Nathan S. & Brown, Stephen P.A., 2018. "Oil supply shocks and the U.S. economy: An estimated DSGE model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 357-372.
    44. Garth Heutel, 2012. "How Should Environmental Policy Respond to Business Cycles? Optimal Policy under Persistent Productivity Shocks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(2), pages 244-264, April.
    45. Lucas, Robert Jr, 1976. "Econometric policy evaluation: A critique," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 19-46, January.
    46. מחקר - ביטוח לאומי, 2006. "Summary for 2005," Working Papers 29, National Insurance Institute of Israel.
    47. Shuai Chen & Paulina Oliva & Peng Zhang, 2017. "The Effect of Air Pollution on Migration: Evidence from China," NBER Working Papers 24036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Busato, Francesco & Chiarini, Bruno & Cisco, Gianluigi & Ferrara, Maria, 2021. "Greta Thunberg effect and Business Cycle Dynamics: A DSGE model," MPRA Paper 110141, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Zhibo Zhou & Weiguo Zhang & Xinxin Pan & Jiangfeng Hu & Ganlin Pu, 2019. "Environmental Tax Reform and the “Double Dividend” Hypothesis in a Small Open Economy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Favourate Y. Mpofu, 2022. "Green Taxes in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmental Protection, Sustainability, and the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-26, August.
    4. Francesco Busato & Bruno Chiarini & Gianluigi Cisco & Maria Ferrara, 2023. "Green preferences," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 3211-3253, April.

    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. Chan, Ying Tung, 2020. "Optimal emissions tax rates under habit formation and social comparisons," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Chan, Ying Tung & Zhao, Hong, 2023. "Optimal carbon tax rates in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with a supply chain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Chan, Ying Tung, 2020. "Are macroeconomic policies better in curbing air pollution than environmental policies? A DSGE approach with carbon-dependent fiscal and monetary policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Antimiani, Alessandro & Costantini, Valeria & Martini, Chiara & Salvatici, Luca & Tommasino, Maria Cristina, 2013. "Assessing alternative solutions to carbon leakage," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 299-311.
    5. Ying Tung Chan, 2019. "The Environmental Impacts and Optimal Environmental Policies of Macroeconomic Uncertainty Shocks: A Dynamic Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-26, September.
    6. Chan, Ying Tung & Zhao, Hong, 2019. "How do credit market frictions affect carbon cycles? an estimated DSGE model approach," MPRA Paper 106987, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Dec 2020.
    7. Francesco Busato & Bruno Chiarini & Gianluigi Cisco & Maria Ferrara, 2023. "Green preferences," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 3211-3253, April.
    8. Reyer Gerlagh & Onno Kuik, 2007. "Carbon Leakage with International Technology Spillovers," Working Papers 2007.33, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    9. Busato, Francesco & Chiarini, Bruno & Cisco, Gianluigi & Ferrara, Maria, 2021. "Greta Thunberg effect and Business Cycle Dynamics: A DSGE model," MPRA Paper 110141, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Huang, Bihong & Punzi, Maria Teresa & Wu, Yu, 2022. "Environmental regulation and financial stability: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    11. 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).
    12. Francesca Diluiso & Barbara Annicchiarico & Matthias Kalkuhl & Jan C. Minx, 2020. "Climate Actions and Stranded Assets: The Role of Financial Regulation and Monetary Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 8486, CESifo.
    13. Diluiso, Francesca & Annicchiarico, Barbara & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Minx, Jan C., 2021. "Climate actions and macro-financial stability: The role of central banks," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    14. van den Bijgaart, Inge, 2016. "Essays in environmental economics and policy," Other publications TiSEM 298bee2a-cb08-4173-9fe1-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Chen, Chuanqi & Pan, Dongyang, 2020. "The Optimal Mix of Monetary and Climate Policy," MPRA Paper 97718, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Annicchiarico, Barbara & Diluiso, Francesca, 2019. "International transmission of the business cycle and environmental policy," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    17. Blazquez, Jorge & Galeotti, Marzio & Manzano, Baltasar & Pierru, Axel & Pradhan, Shreekar, 2021. "Effects of Saudi Arabia’s economic reforms: Insights from a DSGE model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 145-169.
    18. Narayanan G., Badri & Walmsley, Terrie L., 2011. "The Role of Labor Standards in International Trade: A CGE Approach," Conference papers 332097, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    19. Hinterlang, Natascha & Martin, Anika & Röhe, Oke & Stähler, Nikolai & Strobel, Johannes, 2021. "Using energy and emissions taxation to finance labor tax reductions in a multi-sector economy: An assessment with EMuSe," Discussion Papers 50/2021, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    20. Chen, Chuanqi & Pan, Dongyang & Huang, Zhigang & Bleischwitz, Raimund, 2021. "Engaging central banks in climate change? The mix of monetary and climate policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:19:p:5147-:d:269532. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.