On the Acceptability of the Ambient Tax Mechanism: An Experimental Investigation
Abstract
Our objective in this paper is to assess the acceptability of the ambient tax. Concretely, we ask subjects to choose between (A) an ambient tax and (B) an individual tax system. In case (A), they actually participate in a game in which their payoff depends on all participants' decisions and on natural variability as would be the case in the real world if an ambient tax was implemented. In case (B) they simply earn a sure payoff, which is supposed to reflect their maximal profit under the individual tax system. We take the percentage of agents preferring the ambient tax to a given sure payoff level as an indicator of the acceptability of the ambient tax given this sure payoff level. Our experimental results mitigate the common belief that ambient taxes are totally unacceptable. If the "sure" alternative to the ambient tax policy is very costly for the polluters, for example because it involves high inspection costs, polluters might eventually prefer being liable to an ambient tax.Download Info
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Paper provided by Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics in its series Jena Economic Research Papers with number 2007-081.Length:
Date of creation: 12 Nov 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-081
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Related research
Keywords: Nonpoint Source Pollution; Group Decision Making; Experiments; Acceptability of fiscal instruments.;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
- H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
- Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2007-11-24 (All new papers)
- NEP-ENV-2007-11-24 (Environmental Economics)
- NEP-EXP-2007-11-24 (Experimental Economics)
- NEP-PBE-2007-11-24 (Public Economics)
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Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- François Cochard & Anne Rozan, 2010. "Taxe ambiante : un outil adapté à la lutte contre les coulées de boue ? Une étude expérimentale," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 91(3), pages 296-326.
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