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Upstream versus Downstream Implementation of Climate Policy

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  • Erin T. Mansur

Abstract

This chapter examines the tradeoffs of regulating upstream (e.g., coal, natural gas, and refined petroleum product producers) versus regulating downstream (e.g., direct sources of greenhouse gases (GHG)). In general, regulating at the source provides polluters with incentives to choose among more opportunities to abate pollution. This chapter develops a simple theoretical model that shows why this added flexibility achieves the lowest overall costs. I broaden the theory to incorporate several reasons why these potential gains from trade may not be realized--transactions costs, leakage, and offsets--in the context of selecting the vertical segment of regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin T. Mansur, 2010. "Upstream versus Downstream Implementation of Climate Policy," NBER Working Papers 16116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16116
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    Cited by:

    1. Buscemi, Antonino & Yallwe, Alem Hagos, 2011. "It is time to re-think on environment, energy and economics (E3)," MPRA Paper 30998, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Coria, Jessica & Jaraite, Jurate, 2015. "Carbon Pricing: Transaction Costs of Emissions Trading vs. Carbon Taxes," Working Papers in Economics 609, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    3. James B. Bushnell & Erin T. Mansur, 2011. "Vertical Targeting and Leakage in Carbon Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 263-267, May.
    4. Christensen, Adam & Siddiqui, Sauleh, 2015. "Fuel price impacts and compliance costs associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 614-624.
    5. Jared Cory & Michael Lerner & Iain Osgood, 2021. "Supply Chain Linkages and the Extended Carbon Coalition," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(1), pages 69-87, January.
    6. Fan, Jin & He, Haonan & Wu, Yanrui, 2016. "Personal carbon trading and subsidies for hybrid electric vehicles," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 164-173.
    7. Ren, Jie & Chen, Xi & Hu, Jian, 2020. "The effect of production- versus consumption-based emission tax under demand uncertainty," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 82-98.
    8. Viola Becattini & Paolo Gabrielli & Linda Frattini & David Weisbach & Marco Mazzotti, 2022. "A two-step carbon pricing scheme enabling a net-zero and net-negative CO $$_2$$ 2 -emissions world," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 1-22, March.
    9. Feijoo, Felipe & Das, Tapas K., 2014. "Design of Pareto optimal CO2 cap-and-trade policies for deregulated electricity networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 371-383.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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