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Environmental Policy and Optimal Taxation in a Decentralized Economic Federation

Author

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  • Aronsson, Thomas

    (Department of Economics, Umeå University)

  • Jonsson, Thomas

    (Department of Economics, Umeå University)

  • Sjögren, Tomas

    (Department of Economics, Umeå University)

Abstract

This paper deals with environmental policy in an economic federation, where each national government faces a mixed tax problem. We assume that the federal government sets emission targets, which are implemented at the national level. We also assume that the economic federation is decentralized, meaning that the national governments are first movers vis-a-vis the federal government. Our results show that each country uses it policy instruments, at least in part, to influence the emission target. This has several implications; first, the commodity taxes do not satisfy the so called additivity property often emphasized in earlier literature and, second, it provides an argument for using distortionary labor income taxation.

Suggested Citation

  • Aronsson, Thomas & Jonsson, Thomas & Sjögren, Tomas, 2006. "Environmental Policy and Optimal Taxation in a Decentralized Economic Federation," Umeå Economic Studies 669, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:umnees:0669
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Aronsson, Thomas & Sjogren, Tomas, 2004. "Efficient taxation, wage bargaining and policy coordination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2711-2725, December.
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    5. Kothenburger, Marko, 2004. "Tax competition in a fiscal union with decentralized leadership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 498-513, May.
    6. Aronsson, Thomas & Jonsson, Thomas & Sjögren, Tomas, 2004. "Environmental Policy Reforms and the Labor Market in a Global Economy," Umeå Economic Studies 629, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    7. Clemens Fuest & Bernd Huber, 1997. "Wage bargaining, labor-tax progression, and welfare," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 127-150, June.
    8. Thomas Aronsson & Tomas Sjögren, 2004. "Is the Optimal Labor Income Tax Progressive in a Unionized Economy?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(4), pages 661-675, December.
    9. Thomas Aronsson & Thomas Jonsson & Tomas Sjögren, 2006. "International Environmental Policy Reforms, Tax Distortions, and the Labor Market," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 62(2), pages 199-217, June.
    10. Christiansen, Vidar, 1984. "Which commodity taxes should supplement the income tax?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 195-220, July.
    11. Barrett, Scott, 1994. "Self-Enforcing International Environmental Agreements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 878-894, Supplemen.
    12. Carlo Carraro (ed.), 2003. "The Endogenous Formation of Economic Coalitions," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2999.
    13. Caplan, Arthur J. & Silva, Emilson C. D., 1999. "Federal Acid Rain Games," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 25-52, July.
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    15. Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2008. "Age‐related Optimal Income Taxation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(1), pages 45-71, March.
    16. Marklund, Per-Olov & Samakovlis, Eva, 2003. "What is Driving the EU Burden-Sharing Agreement: Efficiency or Equity?," Umeå Economic Studies 620, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    17. Caplan, Arthur J. & Cornes, Richard C. & Silva, Emilson C. D., 2000. "Pure public goods and income redistribution in a federation with decentralized leadership and imperfect labor mobility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 265-284, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aronsson, Thomas & Persson, Lars, 2012. "Decentralized fiscal federalism revisited: Optimal income taxation and public goods under horizontal leadership," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 223-226.
    2. Aronsson, Thomas & Sjögren, Tomas & Witterblad, Mikael, 2008. "Optimal Taxation and Asymmetric Information in an Economy with Second-Hand Trade," Umeå Economic Studies 732, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    3. Aronsson, Thomas & Micheletto, Luca & Sjögren, Tomas, 2012. "Public Goods in a Voluntary Federal Union: Implications of a Participation Constraint," Umeå Economic Studies 850, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    4. Sjögren, Tomas, 2017. "Capital Taxation in a Fiscal Union – Implications of Simultaneous Horizontal and Decentralized Leadership," Umeå Economic Studies 947, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    5. Lars Persson, 2015. "Incentives underlying tax policies in a decentralized federation with horizontal leadership and transboundary environmental damage," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 77-88, March.
    6. Aronsson, Thomas & Sjögren, Tomas, 2018. "Optimal Taxation, Redistribution, and Environmental Externalities," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 11(3), pages 233-308, August.
    7. Aronsson, Thomas, 2007. "General Income Taxation, Public Goods and Decentralized Leadership," Umeå Economic Studies 715, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    8. Tomas Sjögren, 2019. "Labor income taxes in an economic federation with proportional membership fees," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(5), pages 1137-1165, October.
    9. Aronsson, Thomas & Persson, Lars & Sjögren, Tomas, 2006. "Optimal Taxation and Transboundary Externalities - Are Endogenous World Market Prices Important?," Umeå Economic Studies 699, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    10. Aronsson, Thomas & Micheletto, Luca & Sjögren, Tomas, 2014. "A note on public goods in a decentralized fiscal union: Implications of a participation constraint," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-8.
    11. David Granlund, 2011. "Electoral accountability in a country with two-tiered government," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 531-546, September.
    12. Aronsson, Thomas, 2010. "Optimal income taxation and decentralized fiscal federalism," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 187-195, July.
    13. Thomas Aronsson & Lars Persson & Tomas Sjögren, 2014. "Mixed Taxation and Transboundary Externalities," Public Finance Review, , vol. 42(2), pages 254-282, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income and commodity taxation; economic federation; environmental policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General

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