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Should the Carbon Price Be the Same in All Countries?

Author

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  • ANTOINE D'AUTUME
  • KATHELINE SCHUBERT
  • CEES WITHAGEN

Abstract

International di¤erences in fuel taxation are huge, and may be justi…ed by different local negative externalities that taxes must correct, as well as by di¤erent preferences for public spending. In this context, should a worldwide uniform carbon tax be added to these local taxes to correct the global warming externality? We address this question in a second best framework à la Ramsey, where public goods have to be …nanced through distortionary taxation and the cost of public funds has to be weighted against the utility of public goods. We show that when lump-sum transfers between countries are allowed for, the second best tax on the polluting good may be decomposed into three parts: one, country-speci…c, dealing with the local negative externality, a second one, country-speci…c, dealing with the cost of levying public funds, and a third one, global, dealing with the global externality and which can be interpreted as the carbon price. Our main contribution is to show that the uniformity of the carbon price should still hold in this second best framework. Nevertheless, if lump-sum transfers between governments are impossible to implement, international di¤erentiation of the carbon price is the only way to take care of equity concerns. keywords: carbon price, second best, Pigovian taxation
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Suggested Citation

  • Antoine D'Autume & Katheline Schubert & Cees Withagen, 2016. "Should the Carbon Price Be the Same in All Countries?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 18(5), pages 709-725, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jpbect:v:18:y:2016:i:5:p:709-725
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jpet.2016.18.issue-5
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Differentiated carbon taxation
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-01-13 22:24:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Borissov, Kirill & Bretschger, Lucas, 2022. "Optimal carbon policies in a dynamic heterogeneous world," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    2. Gadea Rivas, María Dolores & Gonzalo, Jesús, 2022. "Climate change heterogeneity: a new quantitative approach," UC3M Working papers. Economics 35442, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    3. Gadea Rivas, María Dolores & Gonzalo, Jesús, 2025. "Regional Heterogeneity and Warming Dominance in the contiguous United States," UC3M Working papers. Economics 47893, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    4. Hillebrand, Elmar & Hillebrand, Marten, 2019. "Optimal climate policies in a dynamic multi-country equilibrium model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 200-239.
    5. Roolfs, Christina & Gaitan, Beatriz & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2021. "Make or brake — Rich states in voluntary federal emission pricing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Céline Guivarch, 2016. "Global warming as an asymmetric public bad," Working Papers 2016.26, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    7. Brock, W. & Xepapadeas, A., 2017. "Climate change policy under polar amplification," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 93-112.
    8. Gerard Meijden & Frederick Ploeg & Cees Withagen, 2017. "Frontiers of Climate Change Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(1), pages 1-14, September.
    9. Alain Quinet, 2019. "What Value Do We Attach to Climate Action? [Quelle valeur donner à l’action pour le climat ?]," Post-Print hal-05304423, HAL.
    10. Lint Barrage, 2020. "Optimal Dynamic Carbon Taxes in a Climate–Economy Model with Distortionary Fiscal Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 1-39.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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