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Environmental Tax Reform in a Small Open Economy with Structural Unemployment

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  • Holmlund, Bertil

    (Department of Economics)

  • Kolm, Ann-Sofie

    (Department of Economics)

Abstract

The paper examines the effects of an environmental tax reform in a model of a small open economy with decentralised wage bargaining and monopolistically competitive firms. The economy includes a tradable sector as well as a non-tradable sector and features unemployment in general equilibrium. Firms in both sectors use labour and an imported polluting factor of production (”energy”). A tax on energy, recycled to reduce the payroll tax, will in general affect equilibrium unemployment in this economy. The effect works through a reallocation of employment from the tradable to the non-tradable sector. Total employment increases if workers in the tradable sector receive a wage premium relative to workers in the non-tradable sector. The sectoral relative wage is determined by the relative bargaining power of the unions and by parameters of preferences and technology. Parameterised versions of the model suggest that the tax reform has small effects on employment and that it typically reduces real GDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Holmlund, Bertil & Kolm, Ann-Sofie, 1998. "Environmental Tax Reform in a Small Open Economy with Structural Unemployment," Working Paper Series 1997:2, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:uunewp:1997_002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Manresa, Antonio & Sancho, Ferran, 2005. "Implementing a double dividend: recycling ecotaxes towards lower labour taxes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 1577-1585, August.
    2. Bertil Holmlund, 2002. "International spillover effects of sectoral tax differentiation in unionized economies," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 54(2), pages 207-229, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Thorsten Bayındır-Upmann, 2004. "On the Double Dividend under Imperfect Competition," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 28(2), pages 169-194, June.
    5. DE BORGER, Bruno, "undated". "Commuting, congestion tolls and noncompetitive labour markets: Optimal congestion pricing in a wage bargaining model," Working Papers 2006014, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    6. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2001. "Le double dividende. Les approches théoriques," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 16(2), pages 119-147.
    7. 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.
    8. Jaume Freire-González & Mun S. Ho, 2018. "Environmental Fiscal Reform and the Double Dividend: Evidence from a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, February.
    9. Maruf Rahman Maxim & Kerstin Zander, 2019. "Can a Green Tax Reform Entail Employment Double Dividend in European and non-European Countries? A Survey of the Empirical Evidence," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(3), pages 218-228.
    10. Holmlund, B. & Kolm, A.-S., 1999. "Economic Integration, Imperfect Competition, and International Policy Coordination," Papers 1999:7, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
    11. Ronnie Schöb, 2003. "The Double Dividend Hypothesis of Environmental Taxes: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 946, CESifo.
    12. Nicolas Piluso, 2023. "Why should the carbon tax be floating ?," Post-Print hal-04125654, HAL.
    13. repec:dgr:uvatin:20020095 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. De Borger, Bruno, 2009. "Commuting, congestion tolls and the structure of the labour market: Optimal congestion pricing in a wage bargaining model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 434-448, July.
    15. Maruf Rahman Maxim, 2020. "Environmental fiscal reform and the possibility of triple dividend in European and non-European countries: evidence from a meta-regression analysis," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(4), pages 633-656, October.
    16. Patuelli, Roberto & Nijkamp, Peter & Pels, Eric, 2005. "Environmental tax reform and the double dividend: A meta-analytical performance assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 564-583, December.
    17. Requate, Till, 2005. "Environmental Policy under Imperfect Competition: A Survey," Economics Working Papers 2005-12, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    18. Thomas Conefrey & John D. Fitz Gerald & Laura Malaguzzi Valeri & Richard S.J. Tol, 2013. "The impact of a carbon tax on economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions in Ireland," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(7), pages 934-952, September.
    19. Emmanuel Combet, 2016. "Energy Tax Reform in Time of Crisis - The Case of Energy-Dependent and Open Economies," Working Papers 2016.06, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    20. Ulrich Steger & Wouter Achterberg (†) & Kornelis Blok & Henning Bode & Walter Frenz & Corinna Gather & Gerd Hanekamp & Dieter Imboden & Matthias Jahnke & Michael Kost & Rudi Kurz & Hans G. Nutzinger &, 2005. "Sustainable Development and Innovation in the Energy Sector," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-26882-6 edited by Friederike Wütscher, June.
    21. 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.
    22. Michael Rauscher, 2001. "International Factor Movements, Environmental Policy, and Double Dividends," NBER Chapters, in: Behavioral and Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy, pages 187-216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Roobavannan, M. & Kandasamy, J. & Pande, S. & Vigneswaran, S. & Sivapalan, M., 2017. "Allocating Environmental Water and Impact on Basin Unemployment: Role of A Diversified Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 178-188.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental tax reform; wage bargaining; equilibrium unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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