IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fem/femwpa/2003.60.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Double Dividend Hypothesis of Environmental Taxes: A Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Ronnie Schöb

    (Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg and CESifo, Munich)

Abstract

This survey reviews the recent literature on the double-dividend hypothesis of environmental taxes and discusses some extensions of the standard model such as the distributional consequences and the importance of the non-separability assumption between consumption goods and environmental quality for the optimal design of environmental policies. Turning to a model with imperfect labour markets we then show under which circumstances environmental taxes on polluting inputs in production and on polluting consumption goods can reap a second dividend in the form of an employment dividend and discuss the welfare implications. Finally, we turn to international aspects of environmental taxation. When environmental problems are tied to the use of exhaustible resources, resource-consuming countries can appropriate resource rents at the cost of resource-owning countries by levying environmental taxes strategically.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronnie Schöb, 2003. "The Double Dividend Hypothesis of Environmental Taxes: A Survey," Working Papers 2003.60, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
  • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2003.60
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://feem-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/NDL2003-060.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Koskela Erkki & Schöb Ronnie, 2002. "Why Governments Should Tax Mobile Capital in the Presence of Unemployment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Fullerton, Don & Wolverton, Ann, 2005. "The two-part instrument in a second-best world," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1961-1975, September.
    3. Amundsen, Eirik S. & Schob, Ronnie, 1999. "Environmental taxes on exhaustible resources," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 311-329, June.
    4. A. Lans Bovenberg & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2002. "Environmental Policy, Public Finance and the Labour Market in a Second-Best World," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 6, pages 112-153, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Jon Strand, 1999. "Efficient Environmental Taxation Under Worker-Firm Bargaining," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 125-141, March.
    6. Bertil Holmlund & Ann-Sofie Kolm, 2000. "Environmental Tax Reform in a Small Open Economy With Structural Unemployment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(3), pages 315-333, May.
    7. Ian W.H. Parry & Roberton C. Williams III & Lawrence H. Goulder, 2002. "When Can Carbon Abatement Policies Increase Welfare? The Fundamental Role of Distorted Factor Markets," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 25, pages 471-503, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173, December.
    9. Richard Layard & Stephen Nickell, 1990. "Is Unemployment Lower if Unions Bargain over Employment?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 773-787.
    10. Lawrence H. Goulder & Ian W.H. Parry & Roberton C. Williams III & Dallas Burtraw, 2002. "The Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Instruments for Environmental Protection in a Second-Best Setting," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 27, pages 523-554, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. A. Bovenberg, 1999. "Green Tax Reforms and the Double Dividend: an Updated Reader's Guide," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(3), pages 421-443, August.
    12. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 1991. "International tax competition and gains from tax harmonization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 69-76, September.
    13. Sinn, Hans-Werner, 1982. "Taxation, growth, and resource extraction: A general equilibrium approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 357-386.
    14. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb & Hans-Werner Sinn, 1998. "Pollution, Factor Taxation and Unemployment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 379-396, July.
    15. Stefan Boeters, 2004. "Green Tax Reform and Employment: The Interaction of Profit and Factor Taxes," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 60(2), pages 222-239, August.
    16. Lawrence Summers & Jonathan Gruber & Rodrigo Vergara, 1993. "Taxation and the Structure of Labor Markets: The Case of Corporatism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 385-411.
    17. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb, 2002. "Alleviating Unemployment: The Case for Green Tax Reforms," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 20, pages 355-378, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb, 2002. "Optimal Factor Income Taxation in the Presence of Unemployment," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 4(3), pages 387-404, July.
    19. G. D. A. MacDougall, 1960. "THE BENEFITS and COSTS OF PRIVATE INVESTMENT FROM ABROAD: A THEORETICAL APPROACH," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 36(73), pages 13-35, March.
    20. Bovenberg, A. Lans & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 1996. "Optimal taxation, public goods and environmental policy with involuntary unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 59-83, October.
    21. Wolfram Richter & Kerstin Schneider, 2001. "Taxing Mobile Capital with Labor Market Imperfections," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(3), pages 245-262, May.
    22. Sandmo, Agnar, 2000. "The Public Economics of the Environment," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297987.
    23. Ronnie Schöb, 2002. "Environmental Taxes and Pre-Existing Distortions: The Normalization Trap," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 11, pages 184-193, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    24. repec:bla:scandj:v:96:y:1994:i:3:p:343-63 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Bucovetsky, Sam & Wilson, John Douglas, 1991. "Tax competition with two tax instruments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 333-350, November.
    26. Lee, Dwight R. & Misiolek, Walter S., 1986. "Substituting pollution taxation for general taxation: Some implications for efficiency in pollutions taxation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 338-347, December.
    27. Metcalf, Gilbert E., 2003. "Environmental levies and distortionary taxation:: Pigou, taxation and pollution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 313-322, February.
    28. Diamond, P. A., 1975. "A many-person Ramsey tax rule," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 335-342, November.
    29. Terkla, David, 1984. "The efficiency value of effluent tax revenues," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 107-123, June.
    30. Farzin, Y. H., 1996. "Optimal pricing of environmental and natural resource use with stock externalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 31-57, October.
    31. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521322249.
    32. A. Lans Bovenberg & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2002. "Tax Reform, Structural Unemployment and the Environment," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 21, pages 379-396, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    33. Jesse Schwartz & Robert Repetto, 2000. "Nonseparable Utility and the Double Dividend Debate: Reconsidering the Tax-Interaction Effect," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 15(2), pages 149-157, February.
    34. Mayeres, Inge & Proost, Stef, 2001. "Marginal tax reform, externalities and income distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 343-363, February.
    35. A. Lans Bovenberg & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2002. "Environmental Policy, Public Finance and the Labour Market in a Second-Best World," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 6, pages 112-153, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    36. Bosello, Francesco & Carraro, Carlo & Galeotti, Marzio, 2001. "The double dividend issue: modeling strategies and empirical findings," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 9-45, February.
    37. Ian W.H. Parry, 2002. "Pollution Taxes and Revenue Reycling," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 15, pages 235-248, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    38. Bovenberg, A Lans & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 1993. "Green Policies in a Small Open Economy," CEPR Discussion Papers 785, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    39. Jukka Pirttilä & Ronnie SchöB, 1999. "Redistribution and Internalization: The Many-Person Ramsey Tax Rule Revisited," Public Finance Review, , vol. 27(5), pages 541-560, September.
    40. repec:bla:scandj:v:99:y:1997:i:1:p:45-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Stefan Boeters & Kerstin Schneider, 1999. "Government versus Union. The Structure of Optimal Taxation in a Unionized Labor Market," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 56(2), pages 174-174, June.
    42. Stephen Smith, 1992. "Taxation and the environment: a survey," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 21-57, January.
    43. van der Ploeg, Frederick & Bovenberg, A Lans, 1994. "Environmental Policy, Public Goods and the Marginal Cost of Public Funds," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(423), pages 444-454, March.
    44. Kolstad, Charles D. & Krautkraemer, Jeffrey A., 1993. "Natural resource use and the environment," Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics, in: A. V. Kneese† & J. L. Sweeney (ed.), Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1219-1265, Elsevier.
    45. Ben Lockwood & Alan Manning, 1993. "Wage Setting and the Tax System: theory and Evidence for the UK," CEP Discussion Papers dp0115, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    46. Holm, Pasi & Honkapohja, Seppo & Koskela, Erkki, 1994. "A monopoly-union model of wage determination with capital and taxes: An empirical application to the Finnish manufacturing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 285-303, February.
    47. Bergstrom, Theodore C, 1982. "On Capturing Oil Rents with a National Excise Tax," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 194-201, March.
    48. Bovenberg, A.L., 1995. "Environmental taxation and employment," Other publications TiSEM db57f00b-741a-483d-a01b-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    49. Lawrence F. Katz & Olivier Blanchard, 1999. "Wage Dynamics: Reconciling Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 69-74, May.
    50. Fabrizio Bulckaen & Marco Stampini, 2001. "Efficiency and Distributional Effects of Revenue-Neutral Green Tax Reforms," STUDI ECONOMICI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2001(73).
    51. Konrad Kai A. & Olsen Trond E. & Schob Ronnie, 1994. "Resource Extraction and the Threat of Possible Expropriation: The Role of Swiss Bank Accounts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 149-162, March.
    52. Carraro, Carlo & Galeotti, Marzio & Gallo, Massimo, 1996. "Environmental taxation and unemployment: Some evidence on the 'double dividend hypothesis' in Europe," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 141-181, October.
    53. Lockwood, Ben & Manning, Alan, 1993. "Wage setting and the tax system theory and evidence for the United Kingdom," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 1-29, August.
    54. Hoel, Michael, 1992. "Carbon taxes : An international tax or harmonized domestic taxes?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(2-3), pages 400-406, April.
    55. Guesnerie, Roger & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1978. "Taxing price makers," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 423-455, December.
    56. Ronnie Schöb, 1996. "Choosing the right instrument," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(4), pages 399-416, December.
    57. Long, Ngo Van, 1975. "Resource extraction under the uncertainty about possible nationalization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 42-53, February.
    58. Wirl Franz, 1994. "Pigouvian Taxation of Energy for Flow and Stock Externalities and Strategic, Noncompetitive Energy Pricing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-18, January.
    59. Bayindir-Upmann, Thorsten & Raith, Matthias G., 2003. "Should high-tax countries pursue revenue-neutral ecological tax reforms?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 41-60, February.
    60. Lawrence H. Goulder & Ian W. H. Parry & Dallas Burtraw, 1996. "Revenue-Raising vs. Other Approaches to Environmental Protection: The Critical Significance of Pre-Existing Tax Distortions," NBER Working Papers 5641, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    61. Feldstein, Martin S, 1972. "Distributional Equity and the Optimal Structure of Public Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 32-36, March.
    62. Ulph, Alistair & Ulph, David, 1994. "The Optimal Time Path of a Carbon Tax," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 857-868, Supplemen.
    63. repec:bla:scandj:v:100:y:1998:i:3:p:663-64 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Katri Kosonen & Gaetan Nicodeme, 2009. "The role of fiscal instruments in environmental policy," Taxation Papers 19, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    2. Manel Antelo, 2005. "Double informational asymmetry, signaling, and environmental taxes," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2005/25, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    3. Ian W. H. Parry, 2003. "Fiscal Interactions and the Case for Carbon Taxes Over Grandfathered Carbon Permits," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 385-399.
    4. Jean-Christophe Caffet, 2005. "Health effects and optimal environmental taxes in welfare state countries," Post-Print halshs-00194917, HAL.
    5. Jean-Christophe Caffet, 2005. "Health effects and optimal environmental taxes in welfare state countries," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques v05049, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).

    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. Schöb, Ronnie, 2009. "Climate policy: choosing the right instrument to reap an additional employment dividend," Discussion Papers 2009/10, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    2. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb, 2002. "Optimal Factor Income Taxation in the Presence of Unemployment," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 4(3), pages 387-404, July.
    3. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H., 2002. "Environmental taxation and regulation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1471-1545, Elsevier.
    4. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2001. "Le double dividende. Les approches théoriques," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 16(2), pages 119-147.
    5. Jacobs, Bas & de Mooij, Ruud A., 2015. "Pigou meets Mirrlees: On the irrelevance of tax distortions for the second-best Pigouvian tax," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 90-108.
    6. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline & Mouez Fodha, 2011. "Verdissement de la fiscalité. À qui profite le double dividende ?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 409-431.
    7. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb, 2002. "Alleviating Unemployment: The Case for Green Tax Reforms," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 20, pages 355-378, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb & Hans-Werner Sinn, 1998. "Pollution, Factor Taxation and Unemployment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 379-396, July.
    9. Amundsen, Eirik S. & Schob, Ronnie, 1999. "Environmental taxes on exhaustible resources," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 311-329, June.
    10. Jean-Christophe Caffet, 2005. "Health effects and optimal environmental taxes in welfare state countries," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques v05049, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    11. : Eduardo L. Giménez (a) & Miguel Rodríguez, "undated". "Pigou’S Dividend Versus Ramsey’S Dividend In The Double Dividend Literature," Working Papers 2-06 Classification-JEL :, Instituto de Estudios Fiscales.
    12. Jan Siegmeier & Linus Mattauch & Max Franks & David Klenert & Anselm Schultes & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2015. "A Public Finance Perspective on Climate Policy: Six Interactions That May Enhance Welfare," Working Papers 2015.31, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    13. Jean-Christophe Caffet, 2005. "Health effects and optimal environmental taxes in welfare state countries," Post-Print halshs-00194917, HAL.
    14. Budzinski, Oliver, 2002. "Ecological Tax Reform and Unemployment," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-251, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    15. Chiroleu-Assouline, Mireille & Fodha, Mouez, 2006. "Double dividend hypothesis, golden rule and welfare distribution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 323-335, May.
    16. Hoel, Michael, 2008. "Environmental Taxes in an Economy with Distorting Taxes and a Heterogeneous Population," Memorandum 04/2008, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    17. Thomas Sadler, 2001. "Environmental taxation in an optimal tax framework," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 29(2), pages 215-231, June.
    18. Ian W. H. Parry, 2003. "Fiscal Interactions and the Case for Carbon Taxes Over Grandfathered Carbon Permits," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 385-399.
    19. Boeters, Stefan, 2002. "Tax Progressivity and the Trade Union's Fallback-Option," ZEW Discussion Papers 02-15, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Haradhan Kumar Mohajan, 2011. "Optimal Environmental Taxes Due to Health Effect," KASBIT Business Journals (KBJ), Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Institute of Technology (KASBIT), vol. 4, pages 1-19, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental taxation; Double-dividend hypothesis; Full-employment models; Unemployment models; International coordination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • Q30 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fem:femwpa:2003.60. 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: Alberto Prina Cerai (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.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.