IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bol/bodewp/wp738.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Regulating Environmental Externalities through Public Firms: A Differential Game

Author

Listed:
  • D. Dragone
  • L. Lambertini
  • A. Palestini

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of using public firms to regulate polluting emissions in a Cournot oligopoly where production takes place at constant returns to scale and entails a negative environmental externality. We model the problem as a differential game and investigate (i) the Cournot-Nash game among profit-seeking firms; (ii) the Markov Perfect Nash equilibrium under social planning, where the industry output is entirely controlled by a benevolent planner aiming at the maximisation of social welfare; and (iii) the Markov Perfect Nash equilibrium in a mixed setup where at least one firm is public, while the others remain profit-seeking agents. Our analysis identifies the conditions whereby having a mixed market as a regulatory instrument suffices to drive the industry to the same output, externality and social welfare as under planning, both along the optimal path and in steady state.

Suggested Citation

  • D. Dragone & L. Lambertini & A. Palestini, 2011. "Regulating Environmental Externalities through Public Firms: A Differential Game," Working Papers wp738, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    • Handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://amsacta.unibo.it/4503/1/WP738.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L. Lambertini & A. Mantovani & E. Scorcu, 2007. "Collusion Helps Abate Environmental Pollution: A Dynamic Approach," Working Papers 615, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. Damania, D., 1996. "Pollution Taxes and Pollution Abatement in an Oligopoly Supergame," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 323-336, May.
    3. Itaya, Jun-ichi, 2008. "Can environmental taxation stimulate growth? The role of indeterminacy in endogenous growth models with environmental externalities," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 1156-1180, April.
    4. Tsur, Yacov & Zemel, Amos, 2002. "The Regulation of Environmental Innovations," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 242-260, September.
    5. de Fraja, Giovanni & Delbono, Flavio, 1989. "Alternative Strategies of a Public Enterprise in Oligopoly," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 302-311, April.
    6. Milliman, Scott R. & Prince, Raymond, 1989. "Firm incentives to promote technological change in pollution control," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 247-265, November.
    7. Benchekroun, Hassan & Van Long, Ngo, 2002. "On the multiplicity of efficiency-inducing tax rules," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 331-336, August.
    8. Greiner Alfred, 2007. "The Dynamic Behaviour of an Endogenous Growth Model with Public Capital and Pollution," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 1-12, May.
    9. Nils-Henrik Mørch von der Fehr, 1993. "Tradable emission rights and strategic interaction," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 3(2), pages 129-151, April.
    10. Bartz, Sherry & Kelly, David L., 2008. "Economic growth and the environment: Theory and facts," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 115-149, May.
    11. Yacov Tsur & Amos Zemel, 2008. "Regulating environmental threats," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(3), pages 297-310, March.
    12. Downing, Paul B. & White, Lawrence J., 1986. "Innovation in pollution control," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 18-29, March.
    13. Karp Larry & Livernois John, 1994. "Using Automatic Tax Changes to Control Pollution Emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 38-48, July.
    14. Newbery, David M G, 1990. "Acid Rain," CEPR Discussion Papers 442, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Benchekroun, Hassan & van Long, Ngo, 1998. "Efficiency inducing taxation for polluting oligopolists," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 325-342, November.
    16. de Fraja, Giovanni & Delbono, Flavio, 1990. "Game Theoretic Models of Mixed Oligopoly," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17.
    17. Hartman, Richard & Kwon, O-Sung, 2005. "Sustainable growth and the environmental Kuznets curve," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 1701-1736, October.
    18. Jiunn-Rong Chiou & Jin-Li Hu, 2001. "Environmental Research Joint Ventures under Emission Taxes," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 20(2), pages 129-146, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Using public firms to regulate the environment
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-04-29 19:46:00

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. F. Delbono & L. Lambertini, 2014. "Nationalization as credible threat against tacit collusion," Working Papers wp972, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. Flavio Delbono & Luca Lambertini, 2016. "Nationalization as Credible Threat Against Collusion," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 127-136, March.
    3. Dragone, Davide & Lambertini, Luca & Palestini, Arsen, 2022. "Emission taxation, green innovations and inverted-U aggregate R&D efforts in a linear state differential game," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 62-68.
    4. M. Fadaee, 2011. "A Dynamic Approach to the Environmental Effects of Trade Liberalization," Working Papers wp746, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    5. L. Lambertini, 2014. "On the Interplay between Resource Extraction and Polluting Emissions in Oligopoly," Working Papers wp976, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    6. D. Dragone & L. Lambertini & A. Palestini, 2017. "Emission taxation, green innovations and inverted-U aggregate R&D efforts in a linear state oligopoly game," Working Papers wp2000, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    7. F. Delbono & L. Lambertini, 2014. "Optimal firm' mix in oligopoly with twofold environmental externality," Working Papers wp955, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.

    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. Mehdi Fadaee & Luca Lambertini, 2015. "Non-tradeable pollution permits as green R&D incentives," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 17(1), pages 27-42, January.
    2. M. Fadaee, 2011. "A Dynamic Approach to the Environmental Effects of Trade Liberalization," Working Papers wp746, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    3. M. Fadaee & L. Lambertini, 2011. "Using Auctions for Pollution Rights as Indirect Incentives for Investments in Green Technologies," Working Papers wp729, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    4. Davide Dragone & Luca Lambertini & Arsen Palestini, 2013. "The Incentive to Invest in Environmental-Friendly Technologies: Dynamics Makes a Difference," Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance, in: Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Tapio Palokangas & Alexander Tarasyev (ed.), Green Growth and Sustainable Development, edition 127, pages 165-188, Springer.
    5. Luca Lambertini & George Leitmann, 2013. "Market Power, Resource Extraction and Pollution: Some Paradoxes and a Unified View," Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance, in: Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Tapio Palokangas & Alexander Tarasyev (ed.), Green Growth and Sustainable Development, edition 127, pages 143-164, Springer.
    6. Andrea Mantovani & Ornella Tarola & Cecilia Vergari, 2014. "Hedonic quality, social norms, and environmental campaigns," Working Papers 2014/36, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    7. Shoji Haruna & Rajeev K. Goel, 2019. "Optimal pollution control in a mixed oligopoly with research spillovers," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 21-40, March.
    8. L. Lambertini, 2014. "On the Interplay between Resource Extraction and Polluting Emissions in Oligopoly," Working Papers wp976, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    9. Lambertini, Luca & Tampieri, Alessandro, 2015. "Incentives, performance and desirability of socially responsible firms in a Cournot oligopoly," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 40-48.
    10. Andrea Mantovani & Ornella Tarola & Cecilia Vergari, 2014. "Hedonic quality, social norms, and environmental campaigns," Working Papers 2014/36, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    11. Dragone, Davide & Lambertini, Luca & Palestini, Arsen, 2022. "Emission taxation, green innovations and inverted-U aggregate R&D efforts in a linear state differential game," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 62-68.
    12. D. Dragone & L. Lambertini & A. Palestini, 2009. "On the non-neutrality of profit taxation in a Cournot oligopoly with environmental effects," Working Papers 662, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    13. Rabah Amir & Adriana Gama & Katarzyna Werner, 2018. "On Environmental Regulation of Oligopoly Markets: Emission versus Performance Standards," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(1), pages 147-167, May.
    14. Runa Sarkar, 2008. "Public policy and corporate environmental behaviour: a broader view," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(5), pages 281-297, September.
    15. D. Dragone & L. Lambertini & G. Leitmann & A. Palestini, 2009. "A Stochastic Optimal Control Model of Pollution Abatement," Working Papers 681, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    16. Luca Lambertini & Alessandro Tampieri, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firms’ Ability to Collude," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Sabri Boubaker & Duc Khuong Nguyen (ed.), Board Directors and Corporate Social Responsibility, chapter 9, pages 167-178, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Li, Shoude & Zhang, Yingxuan, 2023. "Abatement technology innovation and pollution tax design: A dynamic analysis in monopoly," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    18. L. Lambertini & A. Mantovani & E. Scorcu, 2007. "Collusion Helps Abate Environmental Pollution: A Dynamic Approach," Working Papers 615, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    19. Marco Marini & Alberto Zevi, 2011. "‘Just one of us’: consumers playing oligopoly in mixed markets," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 239-263, November.
    20. Yang, Ya-Po & Wu, Shih-Jye & Hu, Jin-Li, 2014. "Market Structure, Production Efficiency, And Privatization," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 55(1), pages 89-108, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Economic Logic blog

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bol:bodewp:wp738. 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: Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sebolit.html .

    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.