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Stranded Assets, the Social Cost of Carbon, and Directed Technical Change: Macroeconomic Dynamics of Optimal Climate Policy

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  • Frederick Van der Ploeg
  • Armon Rezai

Abstract

The tractable general equilibrium model developed by Golosov et al. (2014), GHKT for short, is modified to allow for stock-dependent fossil fuel extraction costs and partial exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves, a negative impact of global warming on growth, mean reversion in climate damages, steady labour-augmenting technical progress, specific green technical progress driven by learning by doing, population growth, and a direct effect of the stock of atmospheric carbon on instantaneous welfare. We characterize the social optimum and derive simple rule for both the optimal carbon tax and the renewable energy subsidy, and characterize the optimal amount of untapped fossil fuel.

Suggested Citation

  • Frederick Van der Ploeg & Armon Rezai, 2016. "Stranded Assets, the Social Cost of Carbon, and Directed Technical Change: Macroeconomic Dynamics of Optimal Climate Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 5787, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5787
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    2. Crost, Benjamin & Traeger, Christian P., 2013. "Optimal climate policy: Uncertainty versus Monte Carlo," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(3), pages 552-558.
    3. William Nordhaus, 2014. "Estimates of the Social Cost of Carbon: Concepts and Results from the DICE-2013R Model and Alternative Approaches," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 000.
    4. Jensen, Svenn & Traeger, Christian P., 2014. "Optimal climate change mitigation under long-term growth uncertainty: Stochastic integrated assessment and analytic findings," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 104-125.
    5. Simon Dietz & Nicholas Stern, 2015. "Endogenous Growth, Convexity of Damage and Climate Risk: How Nordhaus' Framework Supports Deep Cuts in Carbon Emissions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(583), pages 574-620, March.
    6. Myles R. Allen & David J. Frame & Chris Huntingford & Chris D. Jones & Jason A. Lowe & Malte Meinshausen & Nicolai Meinshausen, 2009. "Warming caused by cumulative carbon emissions towards the trillionth tonne," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7242), pages 1163-1166, April.
    7. Richard Millar & Myles Allen & Joeri Rogelj & Pierre Friedlingstein, 2016. "The cumulative carbon budget and its implications," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 32(2), pages 323-342.
    8. Frederick Ploeg & Cees Withagen, 2014. "Growth, Renewables, And The Optimal Carbon Tax," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55, pages 283-311, February.
    9. Mikhail Golosov & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2014. "Optimal Taxes on Fossil Fuel in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 41-88, January.
    10. Dietz, Simon & Stern, Nicholas, 2015. "Endogenous growth, convexity of damage and climate risk: how Nordhaus’ framework supports deep cuts in carbon emissions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58406, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Iverson, Terrence, 2012. "Optimal Carbon Taxes with Non-Constant Time Preference," MPRA Paper 43264, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hillebrand, Elmar & Hillebrand, Marten, 2019. "Optimal climate policies in a dynamic multi-country equilibrium model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 200-239.
    2. Ansari, Dawud & Holz, Franziska, 2020. "Between stranded assets and green transformation: Fossil-fuel-producing developing countries towards 2055," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 130, pages 1-1.
    3. van der Ploeg, Frederick & Rezai, Armon, 2021. "Optimal carbon pricing in general equilibrium: Temperature caps and stranded assets in an extended annual DSGE model," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Xiaojun Lyu & Haiqian Ke, 2022. "Dynamic Threshold Effect of Directed Technical Change Suppress on Urban Carbon Footprint in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Ted Temzelides & Borghan Narajabad & Bernardino Adao, 2016. "Renewable Technology Adoption and the Macroeconomy," 2016 Meeting Papers 6, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Anderson, Evan W. & Brock, William, 2021. "Logarithmic depreciation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Coppens, Léo & Venmans, Frank, 2025. "The welfare properties of climate targets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125996, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social cost of carbon; carbon tax; renewable energy subsidy; general equilibrium; Ramsey growth; capital accumulation; stranded assets; simple rules;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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