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How effective is emissions pricing? The role of firm-product-level adjustment

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  • Karin Mayr-Dorn

Abstract

Climate change is one of the pressing issues of our time, and carbon emissions caused by industrial production are among its most important drivers. This paper analyses how multi-product firms adjust to an increase in the cost of emissions (e.g. due to the introduction of emissions pricing) in terms of their output, product mix, and technology, and how their emissions change in response, depending on firm-specific production patterns and cost structures. My model delivers a (qualitative and quantitative) assessment of changes in aggregate emissions via conventional margins of firm adjustment that have not been sufficiently studied in the literature so far. In numerical simulations, I find that negative effects of emissions pricing on emissions of multi-product firms can be sizeable.

Suggested Citation

  • Karin Mayr-Dorn, 2024. "How effective is emissions pricing? The role of firm-product-level adjustment," Economics working papers 2024-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2024-10
    Note: English
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Olivier De Jonghe & Klaas Mulier & Glenn Schepens, 2020. "Going green by putting a price on pollution : Firm-level evidence from the EU," Working Paper Research 390, National Bank of Belgium.
    2. Barrows, Geoffrey & Ollivier, Hélène, 2018. "Cleaner firms or cleaner products? How product mix shapes emission intensity from manufacturing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 134-158.
    3. JÅ«ratÄ— JaraitÄ— & Corrado Di Maria, 2016. "Did the EU ETS Make a Difference? An Empirical Assessment Using Lithuanian Firm-Level Data," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(2), pages 68-92, April.
    4. Dechezleprêtre, Antoine & Nachtigall, Daniel & Venmans, Frank, 2023. "The joint impact of the European Union emissions trading system on carbon emissions and economic performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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