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Second-best Climate Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Hoel, Michael

    (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)

Abstract

Countries with an active climate policy often use several other policy instruments in addition to a price on carbon emissions, such as subsidies to renewable energy. An obvious reason for subsidizing alternatives to carbon energy is that the price of carbon emissions is "too low". The paper derives implications for a second-best climate policy if for some reason the price of carbon emissions is lower than the Pigovian level, and also discusses reasons policy makers might have for setting the tax rate at an ine¢ ciently low level. Even if the current tax rate is optimally set, governments cannot commit to future tax rates. In some cases this inabilty to commit may justify subsidies to investments in renewable energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoel, Michael, 2012. "Second-best Climate Policy," Memorandum 04/2012, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:osloec:2012_004
    as

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    File URL: https://www.sv.uio.no/econ/english/research/unpublished-works/working-papers/pdf-files/2012/Memo-04-2012.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Hoel, 2011. "The Supply Side of CO 2 with Country Heterogeneity," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 113(4), pages 846-865, December.
    2. Alistair Ulph & David Ulph, 2011. "Optimal Climate Change Policies When Governments Cannot Commit," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 201104, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
    3. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801.
    4. Fischer, Carolyn & Newell, Richard G., 2008. "Environmental and technology policies for climate mitigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 142-162, March.
    5. Ulph, Alistair & Ulph, David, 1994. "The Optimal Time Path of a Carbon Tax," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 857-868, Supplemen.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Lecuyer, Oskar & Quirion, Philippe, 2013. "Can uncertainty justify overlapping policy instruments to mitigate emissions?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 177-191.
    2. Benoît Chèze, Julien Chevallier, Nicolas Berghmans, and Emilie Alberola, 2020. "On the CO2 Emissions Determinants During the EU ETS Phases I and II: A Plant-level Analysis Merging the EUTL and Platts Power Data," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 153-184.
    3. Wu, Jie & Fan, Ying & Timilsina, Govinda & Xia, Yan, 2022. "Exploiting Complementarity of Carbon Pricing Instruments for Low-Carbon Development in the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 1329, Asian Development Bank Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon tax; subsidies; commitment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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