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Product Variety, Scale Economies, and Environmental Taxes

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  • Vetter Henrik

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Abstract

We discuss how efficiently a unit tax deals with external damage problems when economies of scale characterize a monopolistically competitive market in which consumers' value product variety. It turns out that neither the number of varieties nor the quantity of each variety is at the optimum under a unit tax. Moreover, aggregate production costs are not minimized under a unit tax. For practical policy purposes, some results suggest that a Pigouvian tax can replace a tax taking into account monopoly. Our findings make this conclusion false when the number of firms is endogenous.

Suggested Citation

  • Vetter Henrik, 2009. "Product Variety, Scale Economies, and Environmental Taxes," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejtec:v:9:y:2009:i:1:n:18
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1704.1541
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Spence, 1976. "Product Selection, Fixed Costs, and Monopolistic Competition," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 217-235.
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    7. Buchanan, James M, 1969. "External Diseconomies, Corrective Taxes, and Market Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 174-177, March.
    8. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521322249.
    9. Allanson, Paul & Montagna, Catia, 2005. "Multiproduct firms and market structure: An explorative application to the product life cycle," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(7-8), pages 587-597, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wenli Cheng & Dingsheng Zhang, 2021. "Optimal Environmental Tax-Subsidy Regime in the Presence of Increasing Returns," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(2), pages 525-540, November.

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