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Environmental Pollution & the Political Economy of Public Debt

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  • Kellner, Maximilian

Abstract

This paper analyzes the political economy of government debt when elected politicians decide about the distribution of public funds between a clean and a polluting public good. When provision of the polluting good creates a stock of climate externalities, strategic incentives for the incumbent government arise from both a budget and emission interaction. In this framework, reelection uncertainty leads to inefficiently low public savings (or even debt) which are attenuated by the emission interaction, while first period pollution decreases regardless of the future government's identity. If the incumbent government competes for office against an environmentalists' party, the total welfare loss from emissions also decreases as a direct result of reelection uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Kellner, Maximilian, 2020. "Environmental Pollution & the Political Economy of Public Debt," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224561, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224561
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    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/224561/1/vfs-2020-pid-39537.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    emission externality; public debt; political economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • 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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