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Environmental Protection, Public Finance Requirements and the Timing of Emission Reductions

Author

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  • Elettra Agliardi

    (Department of Economics, University of Bologna and The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis)

  • Luigi Sereno

    (Department of Economics, University of Bologna)

Abstract

The effects of four environmental policy options for the reduction of pollution emissions, i.e. taxes, emission standards, auctioned permits and freely allocated permits, are analyzed. The setup is a real option model where the amount of emissions is determined by solving the firm's profit maximization problem under each policy instrument. The regulator solves an optimal stopping problem in order to find the critical threshold for policy adoptions taking into account revenues from taxes and auctioned permits and government spending. In this framework, we find the ranking of the alternative policy options in terms of their adoption lag and social welfare. We show that when the output demand is elastic emission standards are preferred to freely allocated permits. Taxes and auctioned permits are always equivalent in terms of their adoption lag and social welfare and also equivalent to emission standards when the regulator redistributes revenues.

Suggested Citation

  • Elettra Agliardi & Luigi Sereno, 2011. "Environmental Protection, Public Finance Requirements and the Timing of Emission Reductions," Working Paper series 53_11, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    • Handle: RePEc:rim:rimwps:53_11
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Montero, Juan-Pablo, 2002. "Permits, Standards, and Technology Innovation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 23-44, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. E. Agliardi & L. Sereno, 2012. "On the optimal timing of switching from non-renewable to renewable resources: dirty vs clean energy sources and the relative efficiency of generators," Working Papers wp855, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. Ohler, Adrienne M., 2014. "Behavior of the firm under rate-of-return regulation with two capital inputs," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 61-69.
    3. Pablo Garcia, 2024. "Optimal timing of environmental policy under partial information," BCL working papers 180, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    4. Enrico Saltari & Giuseppe Travaglini, 2017. "Optimal waste control with abatement capital," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(5), pages 1157-1180, November.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental policies; Taxes; Emission standards; Permits; Public abatement spending; Optimal implementation time; Real options;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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