International Transmission of the Business Cycle and Environmental Policy

This paper presents a baseline dynamic general-equilibrium model of environmental policy for a two-country economy and studies the international transmission of several asymmetric shocks considering three different economy-wide greenhouse gases (GHG) emission regulations: (i) national cap-and-trade, (ii) carbon tax, and (iii) international cap-and-trade system allowing for cross-border allocation of emission permits. We find that international spillovers of shocks originated in one country are strongly influenced by the environmental regime put in place. We show that, while a national cap-and-trade system diminishes the international spillovers by dampening the response of the country hit by shocks, the cross-border reaction to supply-side shocks is found to be magnified under an international cap-and-trade system, while demand shocks are more intensively transmitted under a carbon tax. The pattern of trade and the underlying monetary regime in uence the cross-border transmission channels interacting with the environmental policy adopted.