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Improving Efficiency in Bilateral Emission Trading

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  • Dallas Burtraw
  • Keneth Harrison
  • Paul Turner

Abstract

When environmental damages from emissions are spatially nonuniform, permit trading has been modeled most often as a “pollution offset program” in which emission permits are traded between agents, subject to constraints on ambient air quality. To date the institution envisioned to implement such a program involves trading on a bilateral and sequential basis. However, simulation studies indicate that the sequence of trades may alter the outcome and undermine the cost savings from a pollution offset program. This paper identifies a design for the trading institution that tends to overcome this phenomenon and improve the efficiency of equilibria obtained in a simulation model. We model a bilateral trading process for the reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions with a stochastic description of the sequence of trades within groups of nations in Europe. When trading takes place between disaggregated, stylistic representations of economic enterprises, rather than between national governments, a significantly greater portion of potential savings is achieved. In fact, under most sets of assumptions, approximate first order stochastic dominance is achieved wherein the more decentralized the trading agents, the greater the expected savings from a trading program. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998

Suggested Citation

  • Dallas Burtraw & Keneth Harrison & Paul Turner, 1998. "Improving Efficiency in Bilateral Emission Trading," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(1), pages 19-33, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:11:y:1998:i:1:p:19-33
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1008236224091
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Burtraw, Dallas & Palmer, Karen L. & Heintzelman, Martin, 2000. "Electricity Restructuring: Consequences and Opportunities for the Environment," Discussion Papers 10854, Resources for the Future.
    2. S. Kruitwagen & H. Folmer & E. Hendrix & L. Hordijk & E. van Ierland, 2000. "Trading Sulphur Emissions in Europe: `Guided Bilateral Trade'," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 16(4), pages 423-441, August.
    3. Burtraw, Dallas, 2000. "Innovation Under the Tradable Sulfur Dioxide Emission Permits Program in the U.S. Electricity Sector," RFF Working Paper Series dp-00-38, Resources for the Future.
    4. Zhuo Hu & Dong Huang & Congjun Rao & Xiaolin Xu, 2016. "Innovative allocation mechanism design of carbon emission permits in China under the background of a low-carbon economy," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(2), pages 419-434, March.

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