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Regulation via the Polluter‐pays Principle

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  • Stefan Ambec
  • Lars Ehlers

Abstract

We consider the problem of regulating an economy with environmental pollution. We examine the distributional impact of the polluter-pays principle which requires that any agent compensates all other agents for the damages caused by his or her (pollution) emissions. With constant marginal damages we show that regulation via the polluter-pays principle leads to the unique welfare distribution that assigns non-negative individual welfare and renders each agent responsible for his or her pollution impact. We extend both the polluter-pays principle and this result to increasing marginal damages due to pollution. We also discuss the acceptability of the polluter-pays principle and compare it with the Vickrey-Clark-Groves mechanism.
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Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Ambec & Lars Ehlers, 2016. "Regulation via the Polluter‐pays Principle," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(593), pages 884-906, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:126:y:2016:i:593:p:884-906
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecoj.2016.126.issue-593
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Parkash Chander & Henry Tulkens, 2006. "The Core of an Economy with Multilateral Environmental Externalities," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 153-175, Springer.
    2. Ambec, Stefan & Ehlers, Lars, 2008. "Sharing a river among satiable agents," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 35-50, September.
    3. Montgomery, W. David, 1972. "Markets in licenses and efficient pollution control programs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 395-418, December.
    4. Ambec, Stefan & Sprumont, Yves, 2002. "Sharing a River," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 453-462, December.
    5. Charles D. Kolstad, 2000. "Spatial Environmental and Resource Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1918.
    6. Juan-Pablo Montero, 2008. "A Simple Auction Mechanism for the Optimal Allocation of the Commons," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 496-518, March.
    7. Fleurbaey, Marc, 2012. "Fairness, Responsibility, and Welfare," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199653591.
    8. Moulin, Herve, 1990. "Uniform externalities : Two axioms for fair allocation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 305-326, December.
    9. Carraro, Carlo & Siniscalco, Domenico, 1993. "Strategies for the international protection of the environment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 309-328, October.
    10. Finus, Michael & Tjotta, Sigve, 2003. "The Oslo Protocol on sulfur reduction: the great leap forward?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 2031-2048, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kim, S. & Pollitt, M. & Jin, Y. & Yoon, Y., 2017. "Contractual Framework for the Devolution of System Balancing Responsibility from the Transmission System Operator to Distribution System Operators," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1738, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Ambec, Stefan, 2022. "The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Challenges and Perspectives," TSE Working Papers 22-1365, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    3. Aleksandar Zaklan, 2023. "Coase and Cap-and-Trade: Evidence on the Independence Property from the European Carbon Market," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 526-558, May.
    4. Abdul-Salam, Yakubu & Kemp, Alex & Phimister, Euan, 2022. "Energy transition in the UKCS – Modelling the effects of carbon emission charges on upstream petroleum operations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. Dieter Schmidtchen & Jenny Helstroffer & Christian Koboldt, 2021. "Regulatory failure and the polluter pays principle: why regulatory impact assessment dominates the polluter pays principle," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(1), pages 109-144, January.
    6. Athanasoglou, Stergios, 2022. "On the existence of efficient, individually rational, and fair environmental agreements," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Gabriel, Cle-Anne & Bond, Carol, 2019. "Need, Entitlement and Desert: A Distributive Justice Framework for Consumption Degrowth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 327-336.
    8. Maogang Tang & Ruihan Zhang & Zhen Li & Baijun Wu, 2021. "Assessing the impact of tradable discharge permit on pollution reduction and innovation: micro-evidence from Chinese industrial enterprises," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16911-16933, November.
    9. J. Walter Milon, 2019. "The polluter pays principle and Everglades restoration," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 9(1), pages 67-81, March.
    10. Aleksandar Zaklan, 2020. "Coase and Cap-and-Trade: Evidence on the Independence Property from the European Electricity Sector," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1850, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics

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