IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v55y2013i2p257-289.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capital Malleability, Emission Leakage and the Cost of Partial Climate Policies: General Equilibrium Analysis of the European Union Emission Trading System

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Lanzi
  • Ian Sue Wing

Abstract

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models are the premier analytical platform for assessing the economic impacts of climate change mitigation. But these models tend to treat physical capital as “malleable”, capable of reallocation among sectors over the time-period for which equilibrium is solved. Because the extent to which capital adjustment costs might dampen reallocation is not well understood, there is concern that CGE assessments understate the true costs of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction policies. This paper uses a multi-region, multi-sector CGE model to investigate cap-and-trade schemes, such as the European Union Emission Trading System which cover a subset of the economy, elucidating the effects of capital malleability on GHG abatement, the potential for emission leakage from abating to non-abating sectors, and the impacts on welfare. To simplify the complex interactions being simulated within the CGE model, that analysis is complemented with an analytical model. A partial climate policy results in negative internal carbon leakage, with emissions declining not only in capped sectors but also in non-regulated ones. This result is stronger when capital is intersectorally mobile. Interestingly, in partial climate policy settings capital malleability can amplify or attenuate welfare losses depending on the attributes of the economy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Lanzi & Ian Sue Wing, 2013. "Capital Malleability, Emission Leakage and the Cost of Partial Climate Policies: General Equilibrium Analysis of the European Union Emission Trading System," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(2), pages 257-289, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:55:y:2013:i:2:p:257-289
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-012-9625-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10640-012-9625-8
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10640-012-9625-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kathy Baylis & Don Fullerton & Daniel H. Karney, 2014. "Negative Leakage," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 51-73.
    2. Boeters, Stefan & Bollen, Johannes, 2012. "Fossil fuel supply, leakage and the effectiveness of border measures in climate policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S2), pages 181-189.
    3. Lecca, Patrizio & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2011. "Rebound Effects from Increased Efficiency in the Use of Energy by UK Households," SIRE Discussion Papers 2011-34, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    4. de Bovenberg, A Lans & Mooij, Ruud A, 1994. "Environmental Levies and Distortionary Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1085-1089, September.
    5. Valerie A. Ramey & Matthew D. Shapiro, 2001. "Displaced Capital: A Study of Aerospace Plant Closings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 958-992, October.
    6. Wing, Ian Sue, 2006. "The synthesis of bottom-up and top-down approaches to climate policy modeling: Electric power technologies and the cost of limiting US CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3847-3869, December.
    7. Rutherford, Thomas F, 1999. "Applied General Equilibrium Modeling with MPSGE as a GAMS Subsystem: An Overview of the Modeling Framework and Syntax," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 14(1-2), pages 1-46, October.
    8. Newell, Richard G. & Pizer, William A., 2008. "Indexed regulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 221-233, November.
    9. Dixit, Avinash, 1989. "Intersectoral capital reallocation under price uncertainty," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 309-325, May.
    10. Fullerton, Don & Heutel, Garth, 2007. "The general equilibrium incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 571-591, April.
    11. Austan Goolsbee, 1998. "The Business Cycle, Financial Performance, and the Retirement of Capital Goods," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 1(2), pages 474-496, April.
    12. Boehringer Christoph & Fischer Carolyn & Rosendahl Knut Einar, 2010. "The Global Effects of Subglobal Climate Policies," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-35, December.
    13. Joanne Evans & Lester C. Hunt (ed.), 2009. "International Handbook on the Economics of Energy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12764.
    14. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz & Ladoux, Norbert, 2003. "Environmental taxes with heterogeneous consumers: an application to energy consumption in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2791-2815, December.
    15. van der Werf, Edwin, 2008. "Production functions for climate policy modeling: An empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2964-2979, November.
    16. Henry D. Jacoby & Ian Sue Wing, 1999. "Adjustment Time, Capital Malleability and Policy Cost," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I), pages 73-92.
    17. Burniaux, Jean-Marc & Truong Truong, 2002. "GTAP-E: An Energy-Environmental Version of the GTAP Model," GTAP Technical Papers 923, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    18. Klepper, Gernot & Peterson, Sonja & Springer, Katrin, 2003. "DART97: a description of the multi-regional, multi-sectoral trade model for the analysis of climate policies," Kiel Working Papers 1149, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    19. Burniaux, Jean-March & Truong, Truong P., 2002. "Gtap-E: An Energy-Environmental Version Of The Gtap Model," Technical Papers 28705, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    20. Glenn W. Harrison & Thomas F. Rutherford & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Quantifying The Uruguay Round," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Trade Policies for Development and Transition, chapter 16, pages 363-388, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    21. Russell W. Cooper & John C. Haltiwanger, 2006. "On the Nature of Capital Adjustment Costs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 611-633.
    22. Ferris, Michael C. & Munson, Todd S., 2000. "Complementarity problems in GAMS and the PATH solver," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 165-188, February.
    23. Ramey, Valerie A. & Shapiro, Matthew D., 1998. "Costly capital reallocation and the effects of government spending," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 145-194, June.
    24. Koetse, Mark J. & de Groot, Henri L.F. & Florax, Raymond J.G.M., 2008. "Capital-energy substitution and shifts in factor demand: A meta-analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2236-2251, September.
    25. A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 2002. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    26. Eisfeldt, Andrea L. & Rampini, Adriano A., 2006. "Capital reallocation and liquidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 369-399, April.
    27. Soderholm, Patrik, 2001. "Fossil fuel flexibility in west European power generation and the impact of system load factors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 77-97, January.
    28. Austan Goolsbee & David B. Gross, 1997. "Estimating Adjustment Costs with Data on Heterogeneous Capital Goods," NBER Working Papers 6342, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Carlos de Miguel & Xavier Labanderia & Baltasar Manzano (ed.), 2006. "Economic Modelling of Climate Change and Energy Policies," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4025.
    30. A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 2002. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    31. Charlotta Groth, 2008. "Quantifying UK Capital Adjustment Costs," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(298), pages 310-325, May.
    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. Zhang, Zengkai & Zhang, Zhongxiang, 2017. "Intermediate input linkage and carbon leakage," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 725-746, December.
    2. Bosello, Francesco & De Cian, Enrica, 2014. "Climate change, sea level rise, and coastal disasters. A review of modeling practices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 593-605.
    3. Yingying Lu & David I. Stern, 2016. "Substitutability and the Cost of Climate Mitigation Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(1), pages 81-107, May.
    4. Sue Wing, Ian & Rose, Adam Z., 2020. "Economic consequence analysis of electric power infrastructure disruptions: General equilibrium approaches," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Partha Sen, 2016. "Unilateral Emission Cuts and Carbon Leakages in a Dynamic North–South Trade Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(1), pages 131-152, May.
    6. Zhang, Peng & Yin, Guangzhi & Duan, Maosheng, 2020. "Distortion effects of emissions trading system on intra-sector competition and carbon leakage: A case study of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(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. Natalia Vechiu & Oscar Kuikeu, 2009. "The impact of globalization on FDIs: an empirical assessment for Central and Eastern European Countries," Post-Print hal-01881848, HAL.
    2. Kathryn Daenzer & Ian Wing & Karen Fisher-Vanden, 2014. "Coal’s medium-run future under atmospheric greenhouse gas stabilization," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 763-783, April.
    3. Wing, Ian Sue, 2006. "The synthesis of bottom-up and top-down approaches to climate policy modeling: Electric power technologies and the cost of limiting US CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3847-3869, December.
    4. Antimiani, Alessandro & Costantini, Valeria & Martini, Chiara & Salvatici, Luca & Tommasino, Maria Cristina, 2011. "Cooperative and non-cooperative solutions to carbon leakage," Conference papers 332096, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Zha, Donglan & Zhou, Dequn, 2014. "The elasticity of substitution and the way of nesting CES production function with emphasis on energy input," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 793-798.
    6. Del Boca, Alessandra & Galeotti, Marzio & Rota, Paola, 2008. "Non-convexities in the adjustment of different capital inputs: A firm-level investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 315-337, February.
    7. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Schwarz, Giacomo A., 2018. "How robust is the uniform emissions pricing rule to social equity concerns?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 783-814.
    8. Antimiani, Alessandro & Costantini, Valeria & Martini, Chiara & Salvatici, Luca & Tommasino, Maria Cristina, 2013. "Assessing alternative solutions to carbon leakage," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 299-311.
    9. Ian Sue Wing, 2005. "The Synthesis of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches to Climate Policy Modeling: Electric Power Technologies and the Cost of Limiting U.S. CO2 Emissions," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 21, Society for Computational Economics.
    10. Lagomarsino, Elena, 2020. "Estimating elasticities of substitution with nested CES production functions: Where do we stand?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Ádám Reiff, 2010. "Firm-level adjustment costs and aggregate investment dynamics – Estimation on Hungarian data," MNB Working Papers 2010/2, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary).
    12. Yazid Dissou & Lilia Karnizova & Qian Sun, 2015. "Industry-level Econometric Estimates of Energy-Capital-Labor Substitution with a Nested CES Production Function," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 43(1), pages 107-121, March.
    13. Francesco Bosello & Carlo Orecchia & David A. Raitzer, 2016. "Decarbonization Pathways in Southeast Asia: New Results for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam," Working Papers 2016.75, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    14. Parrado, Ramiro & De Cian, Enrica, 2014. "Technology spillovers embodied in international trade: Intertemporal, regional and sectoral effects in a global CGE framework," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 76-89.
    15. Bas (B.) Jacobs & Rick (F.) van der Ploeg, 2017. "Should Pollution Taxes Be Targeted At Income Redistribution?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-070/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    16. Doumax, Virginie & Philip, Jean-Marc & Sarasa, Cristina, 2014. "Biofuels, tax policies and oil prices in France: Insights from a dynamic CGE model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 603-614.
    17. Aubert, Diane & Chiroleu-Assouline, Mireille, 2019. "Environmental tax reform and income distribution with imperfect heterogeneous labour markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 60-82.
    18. Michetti, Melania & Parrado, Ramiro, 2012. "Improving Land-use modelling within CGE to assess Forest-based Mitigation Potential and Costs," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 122862, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    19. Bento, Antonio M. & Jacobsen, Mark, 2007. "Ricardian rents, environmental policy and the `double-dividend' hypothesis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 17-31, January.
    20. Karney, Daniel H., 2016. "General equilibrium models with Morishima elasticities of substitution in production," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 266-277.

    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:kap:enreec:v:55:y:2013:i:2:p:257-289. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.