IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecl/wisagr/561.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Vietnam's New Environmental Tax Law: What Will It Cost? Who Will Pay?

Author

Listed:
  • Coxhead, Ian

    (University of WI)

  • Chan, Nguyen Van

    (National Economics University, Hanoi)

Abstract

We examine the effects of a proposed environmental tax in a small open developing economy, using an applied general equilibrium model linked to a household survey database. The burden of the tax, applied primarily to fossil fuels, is passed forward by non-traded industries and backward by industries selling into the world market. It causes efficiency and competitiveness losses equivalent to those of a real exchange rate appreciation, and since export industries are in general highly labor-intensive, is regressive and thus poverty-increasing. The budget-neutral use of increased tax revenues to raise spending on anti-poverty programs can offset most of the losses of poor households, but does not create new jobs. The extent of overall losses and their distribution is sensitive to some parameters, such as labor supply response, about which little is currently known in a developing-country context.

Suggested Citation

  • Coxhead, Ian & Chan, Nguyen Van, 2011. "Vietnam's New Environmental Tax Law: What Will It Cost? Who Will Pay?," Staff Paper Series 561, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:wisagr:561
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aae.wisc.edu/pubs/sps/pdf/stpap561.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phan, Diep & Coxhead, Ian, 2010. "Inter-provincial migration and inequality during Vietnam's transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 100-112, January.
    2. Bovenberg, A Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H, 1996. "Optimal Environmental Taxation in the Presence of Other Taxes: General-Equilibrium Analyses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 985-1000, September.
    3. Blundell, Richard & Macurdy, Thomas, 1999. "Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1559-1695, Elsevier.
    4. Arnold C. Harberger, 1962. "The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70, pages 215-215.
    5. Don Fullerton & Garth Heutel, 2010. "The General Equilibrium Incidence of Environmental Mandates," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 64-89, August.
    6. Parry, Ian W.H. & Sigman, Hilary & Walls, Margaret & Williams, Roberton C., III, 2005. "The Incidence of Pollution Control Policies," Discussion Papers 10651, Resources for the Future.
    7. Abbott, Philip & Bentzen, Jeanet & Tarp, Finn, 2009. "Trade and Development: Lessons from Vietnam's Past Trade Agreements," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 341-353, February.
    8. Arief Anshory Yusuf, 2008. "The Distributional Impact of Environmental Policy: The Case of Carbon Tax and Energy Pricing Reform in Indonesia," EEPSEA Research Report rr2008101, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Oct 2008.
    9. Fullerton, Don & Heutel, Garth, 2007. "The general equilibrium incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 571-591, April.
    10. Coxhead, Ian A., 2000. "Tax Reform And The Environment In Developing Economies: Is A Double Dividend Possible?," Staff Papers 12634, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    11. Jensen, Henning Tarp & Tarp, Finn, 2007. "A Vietnam Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for the Year 2003," MPRA Paper 29822, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Dirk Willenbockel, 2011. "Environmental Tax Reform in Vietnam: An Ex Ante General Equilibrium Assessment," EcoMod2011 3082, EcoMod.
    13. Sahn, David E. & Alderman, Harold, 1988. "The effects of human capital on wages, and the determinants of labor supply in a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 157-183, September.
    14. Beghin, John C. & Roland-Holst, David & Van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique, 2002. "Trade and the Environment in General Equilibrium: Evidence from Developing Economies," Staff General Research Papers Archive 4090, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Datta, Ashokankur, 2010. "The incidence of fuel taxation in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 26-33, September.
    16. repec:reg:rpubli:205 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Heckman, James J, 1993. "What Has Been Learned about Labor Supply in the Past Twenty Years?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 116-121, May.
    18. Elobeid, Amani & Van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique & Dessus, Sebastien, 2002. "Outward Orientation, Growth, and the Environment in Vietnam," Staff General Research Papers Archive 4085, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    19. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Report 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4387, December.
    20. Cooper, Richard N., 2000. "Trade and the environment," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 483-529, October.
    21. Mark R. Rosenzweig, 1980. "Neoclassical Theory and the Optimizing Peasant: An Econometric Analysis of Market Family Labor Supply in a Developing Country," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 94(1), pages 31-55.
    22. Don Fullerton & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 1997. "Environmental Taxes and the Double Dividends Hypothesis: Did You Really Expect Something for Nothing?," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 9706, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Coxhead, Ian & Wattanakuljarus, Anan & Nguyen, Chan V., 2013. "Are Carbon Taxes Good for the Poor? A General Equilibrium Analysis for Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 119-131.
    2. Moritz A. Drupp & Ulrike Kornek & Jasper N. Meya & Lutz Sager, 2021. "Inequality and the Environment: The Economics of a Two-Headed Hydra," CESifo Working Paper Series 9447, CESifo.
    3. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Schwarz, Giacomo A., 2018. "How robust is the uniform emissions pricing rule to social equity concerns?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 783-814.
    4. Garth Heutel & David L. Kelly, 2016. "Incidence, Environmental, and Welfare Effects of Distortionary Subsidies," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 361-415.
    5. Kverndokk, Snorre & Rose, Adam, 2008. "Equity and Justice in Global Warming Policy," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 135-176, October.
    6. Wang, Feng & Liu, Xiying & Nguyen, Tue Anh, 2018. "Evaluating the economic impacts and feasibility of China's energy cap: Based on an Analytic General Equilibrium Model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 114-126.
    7. Bas (B.) Jacobs & Rick (F.) van der Ploeg, 2017. "Should Pollution Taxes Be Targeted At Income Redistribution?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-070/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    8. Aubert, Diane & Chiroleu-Assouline, Mireille, 2019. "Environmental tax reform and income distribution with imperfect heterogeneous labour markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 60-82.
    9. Rausch, Sebastian & Schwarz, Giacomo A., 2016. "Household heterogeneity, aggregation, and the distributional impacts of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 43-57.
    10. Karney, Daniel H., 2016. "General equilibrium models with Morishima elasticities of substitution in production," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 266-277.
    11. Mandal, Biswajit & Roy Bardhan, Arya, 2023. "Controlling Environmental Pollution, Sectoral Composition and Factor Prices: A H-O and SFM Hybrid Approach," MPRA Paper 116961, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Jacobs, Bas & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2019. "Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 198-226.
    13. Natalia Vechiu & Oscar Kuikeu, 2009. "The impact of globalization on FDIs: an empirical assessment for Central and Eastern European Countries," Post-Print hal-01881848, HAL.
    14. Don Fullerton & Erich Muehlegger, 2017. "Who Bears the Economic Costs of Environmental Regulations?," NBER Working Papers 23677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Don Fullerton & Garth Heutel, 2007. "Who bears the burden of a tax on carbon emissions in Japan?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 8(4), pages 255-270, December.
    16. Mahmoud Hassan & Walid Oueslati & Damien Rousselière, 2020. "Exploring the link between energy based taxes and economic growth," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(1), pages 67-87, January.
    17. Böhringer, Christoph & Rivers, Nicholas, 2021. "The energy efficiency rebound effect in general equilibrium," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    18. Don Fullerton, 2008. "Distributional Effects of Environmental and Energy Policy: An Introduction," NBER Working Papers 14241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Fullerton Don & Heutel Garth, 2011. "Analytical General Equilibrium Effects of Energy Policy on Output and Factor Prices," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-26, January.
    20. Nong, Duy, 2018. "General equilibrium economy-wide impacts of the increased energy taxes in Vietnam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 471-481.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ecl:wisagr:561. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dauwius.html .

    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.