IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i13p7753-d847552.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Distribution Effects of a Carbon Tax on Urban and Rural Households in China

Author

Listed:
  • You-Yi Guo

    (PhD Program in Business, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City 320, Taiwan
    Department of International Economics and Trade, Fujian Jiangxia University, Fuzhou 350108, China)

  • Jin-Xu Lin

    (Institute of Natural Resource Management, National Taipei University, New Taipei City 237, Taiwan)

  • Shih-Mo Lin

    (Department of International Business, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City 320, Taiwan)

Abstract

Carbon tax is an important carbon emission mitigation tool and has been widely recognized as an efficient mechanism for slowing down global warming. The imposition of a carbon tax will, however, inevitably affect income distribution, as a household’s income level influences its priorities regarding consuming the affected goods. This will have important implications for the government, which will have to formulate policies that can achieve efficiency as well as equity. In this study, we apply the input–output price model to estimate the distribution effects of a carbon tax for urban as well as rural areas in China. Our results show that the price increases due to carbon taxes affect rural areas more than urban areas. The Suits index in rural areas is −0.1928, while the value in urban areas is −0.0588. This indicates carbon tax is regressive in all areas, especially the rural ones, and there is a need to formulate suitable policy measures to alleviate a possible widening income gap among income groups and between urban and rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • You-Yi Guo & Jin-Xu Lin & Shih-Mo Lin, 2022. "The Distribution Effects of a Carbon Tax on Urban and Rural Households in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7753-:d:847552
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7753/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7753/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James M. Poterba, 1991. "Is the Gasoline Tax Regressive?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 5, pages 145-164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jiang, Zhujun & Shao, Shuai, 2014. "Distributional effects of a carbon tax on Chinese households: A case of Shanghai," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 269-277.
    3. Arief Anshory Yusuf & Budy P. Resosudarmo, 2007. "On the Distributional Effect of Carbon Tax in Developing Countries: The Case of Indonesia," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 200705, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Aug 2007.
    4. Kevin A. Hassett & Aparna Mathur & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2009. "The Incidence of a U.S. Carbon Tax: A Lifetime and Regional Analysis," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 155-178.
    5. Metcalf, Gilbert E., 1999. "A Distributional Analysis of Green Tax Reforms," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(4), pages 655-682, December.
    6. Brenner, Mark & Riddle, Matthew & Boyce, James K., 2007. "A Chinese sky trust?: Distributional impacts of carbon charges and revenue recycling in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1771-1784, March.
    7. Suits, Daniel B, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(4), pages 747-752, September.
    8. Yan, Yaxue & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zhang, Jihong & Li, Kai, 2020. "Emissions trading system (ETS) implementation and its collaborative governance effects on air pollution: The China story," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Metcalf, Gilbert E., 1999. "A Distributional Analysis of Green Tax Reforms," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 52(n. 4), pages 655-82, December.
    10. Henrik Klinge Jacobsen & Katja Birr-Pedersen & Mette Wier, 2003. "Distributional Implications of Environmental Taxation in Denmark," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 24(4), pages 477-499, December.
    11. Bureau, Benjamin, 2011. "Distributional effects of a carbon tax on car fuels in France," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 121-130, January.
    12. Zhang, Hongxia & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D. & Zheng, Xinye, 2019. "The effects of carbon taxation in China: An analysis based on energy input-output model in hybrid units," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 223-234.
    13. Boqiang Lin & Zhijie Jia, 2020. "Can Carbon Tax Complement Emission Trading Scheme? The Impact Of Carbon Tax On Economy, Energy And Environment In China," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(03), pages 1-29, August.
    14. Liang, Qiao-Mei & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2012. "Distributional impacts of taxing carbon in China: Results from the CEEPA model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 545-551.
    15. Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2009. "Cost Containment in Climate Change Policy: Alternative Approaches to Mitigating Price Volatility," NBER Working Papers 15125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Rausch, Sebastian & Metcalf, Gilbert E. & Reilly, John M., 2011. "Distributional impacts of carbon pricing: A general equilibrium approach with micro-data for households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 20-33.
    17. Dissou, Yazid & Siddiqui, Muhammad Shahid, 2014. "Can carbon taxes be progressive?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 88-100.
    18. Diamond,John W. & Zodrow,George R. (ed.), 2021. "Prospects for Economic Growth in the United States," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108790505.
    19. Diamond,John W. & Zodrow,George R. (ed.), 2021. "Prospects for Economic Growth in the United States," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108479684.
    20. Wang, Qian & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Guo, Lin & Zhang, Kun & Xue, Jinjun & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2019. "Distributional impact of carbon pricing in Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 327-340.
    21. Runst, Petrik & Thonipara, Anita, 2020. "Dosis facit effectum why the size of the carbon tax matters: Evidence from the Swedish residential sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    22. Kerkhof, Annemarie C. & Moll, Henri C. & Drissen, Eric & Wilting, Harry C., 2008. "Taxation of multiple greenhouse gases and the effects on income distribution: A case study of the Netherlands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 318-326, September.
    23. World Bank Group, "undated". "State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2019," World Bank Publications - Reports 31755, The World Bank Group.
    24. Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2021. "Carbon Taxes in Theory and Practice," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 245-265, October.
    25. Baranzini, Andrea & Goldemberg, Jose & Speck, Stefan, 2000. "A future for carbon taxes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 395-412, March.
    26. Shammin, Md Rumi & Bullard, Clark W., 2009. "Impact of cap-and-trade policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions on U.S. households," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2432-2438, June.
    27. Malerba, Daniele & Gaentzsch, Anja & Ward, Hauke, 2021. "Mitigating poverty: The patterns of multiple carbon tax and recycling regimes for Peru," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    28. Tiezzi, Silvia, 2005. "The welfare effects and the distributive impact of carbon taxation on Italian households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 1597-1612, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Na & Yao, Xilong & Wan, Fang & Han, Yunfei, 2023. "Are tax revenue recycling schemes based on industry-differentiated carbon tax conducive to realizing the “double dividend”?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiang, Zhujun & Shao, Shuai, 2014. "Distributional effects of a carbon tax on Chinese households: A case of Shanghai," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 269-277.
    2. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 1-42, January.
    3. Heindl, Peter & Löschel, Andreas, 2015. "Social implications of green growth policies from the perspective of energy sector reform and its impact on households," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-012, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2018. "Distributional Impacts of Climate Mitigation Policies - a Meta-Analysis," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1776, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Wang, Qian & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Guo, Lin & Zhang, Kun & Xue, Jinjun & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2019. "Distributional impact of carbon pricing in Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 327-340.
    6. Wang, Qian & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Wei, Yi-Ming & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2016. "Distributional effects of carbon taxation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1123-1131.
    7. Qiao-Mei Liang & Qian Wang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2013. "Assessing the Distributional Impacts of Carbon Tax among Households across Different Income Groups: The Case of China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 24(7-8), pages 1323-1346, December.
    8. Alvarez, Maximiliano, 2019. "Distributional effects of environmental taxation: An approximation with a meta-regression analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 382-401.
    9. Dorband, Ira Irina & Jakob, Michael & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Steckel, Jan Christoph, 2019. "Poverty and distributional effects of carbon pricing in low- and middle-income countries – A global comparative analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 246-257.
    10. Feindt, Simon & Kornek, Ulrike & Labeaga, José M. & Sterner, Thomas & Ward, Hauke, 2021. "Understanding regressivity: Challenges and opportunities of European carbon pricing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Qin, Ping. & Chen, Peilin. & Zhang, Xiao-Bing. & Xie, Lunyu., 2020. "Coal taxation reform in China and its distributional effects on residential consumers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    12. Tram T.H. Nguyen and Wonho Song, 2021. "Carbon Pricing and Income Inequality: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 46(2), pages 155-182, June.
    13. Rausch, Sebastian & Schwarz, Giacomo A., 2016. "Household heterogeneity, aggregation, and the distributional impacts of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 43-57.
    14. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2022. "Rendre acceptable la nécessaire taxation du carbone. Quelles pistes pour la France ?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 15-53.
    15. Saelim, Supawan, 2019. "Carbon tax incidence on household consumption: Heterogeneity across socio-economic factors in Thailand," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 159-174.
    16. Immervoll, Herwig & Linden, Jules & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Sologon, Denisa Maria, 2023. "Who Pays for Higher Carbon Prices? Illustration for Lithuania and a Research Agenda," IZA Discussion Papers 15868, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Thomas Douenne, 2018. "The vertical and horizontal distributive effects of energy taxes," Policy Papers 2018.05, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    18. Wu, T. & Thomassin, P.J., 2018. "The Impact of Carbon Tax on Food Prices and Consumption in Canada," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275913, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Blackman, Allen & Osakwe, Rebecca & Alpizar, Francisco, 2010. "Fuel tax incidence in developing countries: The case of Costa Rica," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2208-2215, May.
    20. Moz-Christofoletti, Maria Alice & Pereda, Paula Carvalho, 2021. "Winners and losers: the distributional impacts of a carbon tax in Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7753-:d:847552. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.