IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/now/jirere/101.00000112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal Taxation, Environment Quality, Socially Responsible Firms and Investors

Author

Listed:
  • Renström, Thomas I.
  • Spataro, Luca
  • Marsiliani, Laura

Abstract

We characterize the optimal pollution-, capital- and labour-tax structure in a continuous-time model in the presence of pollution (resulting from production), both in the first- and second-best, allowing investors to be driven by social responsibility objectives. The social responsibility objective takes the form of warm-glow, as in Andreoni (1990) and Dam (2011), inducing firms to reduce pollution through increased abatement activity. Among the results, the second-best pollution tax displays an additivity property and the Chamley–Judd zero capital-income tax can be violated under warm-glow preferences. We also show that first- and second-best pollution taxes are positive, under warm-glow preferences, and, under mild assumptions, the latter yield lower first-best pollution taxes and lower pollution intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Renström, Thomas I. & Spataro, Luca & Marsiliani, Laura, 2019. "Optimal Taxation, Environment Quality, Socially Responsible Firms and Investors," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(3-4), pages 339-373, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:now:jirere:101.00000112
    DOI: 10.1561/101.00000112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/101.00000112
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1561/101.00000112?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heinkel, Robert & Kraus, Alan & Zechner, Josef, 2001. "The Effect of Green Investment on Corporate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 431-449, December.
    2. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    3. Merton, Robert C., 1971. "Optimum consumption and portfolio rules in a continuous-time model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 373-413, December.
    4. Dam, Lammertjan & Heijdra, Ben J., 2011. "The environmental and macroeconomic effects of socially responsible investment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1424-1434, September.
    5. Dieter Vanwalleghem, 2017. "The real effects of sustainable & responsible investing?," Post-Print hal-02005421, HAL.
    6. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1972. "The structure of indirect taxation and economic efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 97-119, April.
    7. Dam, Lammertjan, 2011. "Socially responsible investment in an environmental overlapping generations model," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 1015-1027.
    8. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 1994. "North-South Trade and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 109(3), pages 755-787.
    9. Vanwalleghem, Dieter, 2017. "The real effects of sustainable & responsible investing?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 10-14.
    10. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    11. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    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. Wang, Jiunn & Marsiliani, Laura & Renström, Thomas, 2020. "Optimal sin taxes in the presence of income taxes and health care," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    2. Renström, Thomas I. & Spataro, Luca & Marsiliani, Laura, 2021. "Can subsidies rather than pollution taxes break the trade-off between economic output and environmental protection?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Giorgos N. Diakoulakis & Athanasios Kampas, 2023. "Emission taxes for genuine altruistic firms," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(1), pages 343-359, March.
    4. Orlando Gomes, 2020. "Optimal growth under socially responsible investment: a dynamic theoretical model of the trade-off between financial gains and emotional rewards," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-17, December.

    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. Renström, Thomas I. & Spataro, Luca & Marsiliani, Laura, 2021. "Can subsidies rather than pollution taxes break the trade-off between economic output and environmental protection?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Dam, Lammertjan & Scholtens, Bert, 2015. "Toward a theory of responsible investing: On the economic foundations of corporate social responsibility," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 103-121.
    3. Thomas Fischer, 2017. "Can Redistribution by Means of a Progressive Labor Income-Taxation Transfer System Increase Financial Stability?," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 20(2), pages 1-3.
    4. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2015. "In Praise of Frank Ramsey's Contribution to the Theory of Taxation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(583), pages 235-268, March.
    5. Vanwalleghem, Dieter & Mirowska, Agata, 2020. "The investor that could and would: The effect of proactive personality on sustainable investment choice," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    6. Thomas I. Renström & Luca Spataro, 2021. "Optimal taxation in an endogenous growth model with variable population and public expenditure," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(4), pages 639-659, August.
    7. Peter Sørensen, 2007. "The theory of optimal taxation: what is the policy relevance?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(4), pages 383-406, August.
    8. Baltasar Manzano & Jesús Ruiz, 2004. "Política fiscal óptima: el estado de la cuestión," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 28(1), pages 5-41, January.
    9. Vanwalleghem, Dieter, 2017. "The real effects of sustainable & responsible investing?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 10-14.
    10. Emmanuel Farhi, 2010. "Capital Taxation and Ownership When Markets Are Incomplete," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(5), pages 908-948.
    11. Jones, Larry E. & Manuelli, Rodolfo E. & Rossi, Peter E., 1997. "On the Optimal Taxation of Capital Income," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 93-117, March.
    12. Ludwig Straub & Iván Werning, 2020. "Positive Long-Run Capital Taxation: Chamley-Judd Revisited," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(1), pages 86-119, January.
    13. Helmuth Cremer & Pierre Pestieau, 2011. "The Tax Treatment of Intergenerational Wealth Transfers ," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 57(2), pages 365-401, June.
    14. Helmuth Cremer & ) & Pierre Pestieau, 2003. "Wealth Transfer Taxation: A Survey," Public Economics 0311003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Harrison Hong & Neng Wang & Jinqiang Yang, 2020. "Mitigating Disaster Risks in the Age of Climate Change," NBER Working Papers 27066, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Chari, V.V. & Nicolini, Juan Pablo & Teles, Pedro, 2020. "Optimal capital taxation revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 147-165.
    17. Dam, Lammertjan & Heijdra, Ben J., 2011. "The environmental and macroeconomic effects of socially responsible investment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1424-1434, September.
    18. Kabderian Dreyer, Johannes & Sharma, Vivek & Smith, William, 2023. "Warm-glow investment and the underperformance of green stocks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 546-570.
    19. Chari, V V & Christiano, Lawrence J & Kehoe, Patrick J, 1994. "Optimal Fiscal Policy in a Business Cycle Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 617-652, August.
    20. Ivo Bakota, 2020. "Capital Income Taxation with Portfolio Choice," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp668, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Socially responsible investment; corporate social responsibility; environmental quality; optimal taxation; pollution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D53 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Financial Markets
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    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:now:jirere:101.00000112. 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: Lucy Wiseman (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nowpublishers.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.