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Climate policy commitment devices

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  • Dengler, Sebastian
  • Gerlagh, Reyer
  • Trautmann, Stefan T.
  • van de Kuilen, Gijs

Abstract

We develop a dynamic resource extraction game that mimics the global multi-generation planning problem for climate change and fossil fuel extraction. We implement the game under different conditions in the laboratory. Compared to a baseline condition, we find that policy interventions that provide a costly commitment device or reduce climate threshold uncertainty reduce resource extraction. We also study two conditions to assess the underlying social preferences and the viability of ecological dictatorship. Our results suggest that climate change policies that focus on investments that lock the economy into carbon-free energy sources provide an important commitment device in the intertemporal cooperation problem.

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  • Dengler, Sebastian & Gerlagh, Reyer & Trautmann, Stefan T. & van de Kuilen, Gijs, 2018. "Climate policy commitment devices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 331-343.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:92:y:2018:i:c:p:331-343
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2018.10.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Riccardo Ghidoni & Anna Lou Abatayo & Valentina Bosetti & Marco Casari & Massimo Tavoni, 2023. "Governing Climate Geoengineering: Side Payments Are Not Enough," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(5), pages 1149-1177.
    3. Dolphin, Geoffroy & Pahle, Michael & Burtraw, Dallas & Kosch, Mirjam, 2022. "A Net-Zero Target Compels a Backwards Induction Approach to Climate Policy," RFF Working Paper Series 22-18, Resources for the Future.
    4. Sanjit Dhami & Narges Hajimoladarvish & Pavan Mamidi, 2023. "Climate Change Risk, and Human Behavior: Theory and Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 10678, CESifo.
    5. Chiappinelli, Olga & May, Nils, 2022. "Too good to be true? Time-inconsistent renewable energy policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate policy instruments; Intertemporal cooperation; Climate game; Experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D99 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Other
    • Q38 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy (includes OPEC Policy)
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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