Umweltorientierte Subventionspolitik in Deutschland : Muster, Konzeptionen, Reformperspektiven

This study was written by Tilmann Rave while working at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich, Germany. It was accepted as PhD thesis at the University of Kassel, Chair for the Theory of Private and Public Firms (Prof. Hans G. Nutzinger), and finished in September 2004; second adviser was Prof. Rolf-Ulrich Sprenger (Ifo Institute, Munich / College of Europe, Bruges). The study investigates in which way environmental concerns relate to subsidies and subsidy policies and what opportunities exist for environmentally oriented subsidy reform. In a systematic way linkages between subsidies and the environment, and environmental policy and "subsidy policy" are explored to create a more unified framework and highlight the outlines of the environmental dimension of subsidies and subsidy policy. Since these linkages are a priori complex, the subject matter is approached from different angles and with different methods. Historical-descriptive and theory-based lines of argument lead to a common reform perspective. According to this perspective there are good reasons to (politically) focus more on subsidies with negative environmental consequences and their removal. The perspective is concretised by means of an overview on impact analyses to identify specific environmentally harmful subsidies. Finally an environmentally oriented reform process for subsidies is sketched.