IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/scandj/v114y2012i2p358-383.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Externality‐Correcting Taxes and Regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Vidar Christiansen
  • Stephen Smith

Abstract

In much of the literature on externalities, taxes and direct regulation have been considered as alternative policy instruments. Both instruments might be imperfect in practice, reflecting informational deficiencies and other limitations. We analyse the use of taxes and regulation in combination, to control externalities arising from individual consumption behaviour. We consider the cases either where taxes are imperfectly differentiated to reflect individual differences in externalities, or where some consumption escapes taxation. In both cases, we characterize the optimal instrument mix, and we show how changing the level of direct regulation alters the optimal externality tax.

Suggested Citation

  • Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2012. "Externality‐Correcting Taxes and Regulation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 358-383, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:114:y:2012:i:2:p:358-383
    DOI: j.1467-9442.2012.01701.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9442.2012.01701.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/j.1467-9442.2012.01701.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Montgomery, W. David, 1972. "Markets in licenses and efficient pollution control programs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 395-418, December.
    2. Juan-Pablo Montero, 2005. "Pollution Markets with Imperfectly Observed Emissions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(3), pages 645-660, Autumn.
    3. Green, Jerry & Sheshinski, Eytan, 1976. "Direct versus Indirect Remedies for Externalities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 797-808, August.
    4. Christiansen, Vidar, 1984. "Which commodity taxes should supplement the income tax?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 195-220, July.
    5. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H., 2002. "Environmental taxation and regulation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1471-1545, Elsevier.
    6. Søren Bo Nielsen, 2001. "A Simple Model of Commodity Taxation and Cross‐border Shopping," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 599-623, December.
    7. Sandmo, Agnar, 2000. "The Public Economics of the Environment," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297987.
    8. Mendelsohn, Robert, 1986. "Regulating heterogeneous emissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 301-312, December.
    9. Michael Hoel, 1998. "Emission Taxes versus Other Environmental Policies," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(1), pages 79-104, March.
    10. Wijkander, Hans, 1985. "Correcting externalities through taxes on/subsidies to related goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 111-125, October.
    11. Peter A. Diamond, 1973. "Consumption Externalities and Imperfect Corrective Pricing," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 4(2), pages 526-538, Autumn.
    12. Don Fullerton & Ann Wolverton, 2002. "The Case for a Two-Part Instrument: Presumptive Tax and Environmental Subsidy," Chapters, in: Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman (ed.), The Economics of Household Garbage and Recycling Behavior, chapter 10, pages 175-200, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2012. "Externality‐Correcting Taxes and Regulation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 358-383, June.
    14. Balcer, Yves, 1980. "Taxation of externalities: Direct versus Indirect," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 121-129, February.
    15. W. J. Corlett & D. C. Hague, 1953. "Complementarity and the Excess Burden of Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 21(1), pages 21-30.
    16. Eskeland, Gunnar S, 1994. "A Presumptive Pigovian Tax: Complementing Regulation to Mimic an Emissions Fee," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 8(3), pages 373-394, September.
    17. Mandell, Svante, 2004. "Optimal Mix of Price and Quantity Regulation under Uncertainty," Research Papers in Economics 2004:12, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    18. Hoel, Michael, 2011. "Environmental R&D," Memorandum 12/2010, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    19. Innes, Robert, 1996. "Regulating Automobile Pollution under Certainty, Competition, and Imperfect Information," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 219-239, September.
    20. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    21. Roberts, Marc J. & Spence, Michael, 1976. "Effluent charges and licenses under uncertainty," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3-4), pages 193-208.
    22. Arvind Panagariya & Paul R. Portney & Robert M. Schwab (ed.), 1999. "environmental and public economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1287.
    23. Carraro,Carlo & Siniscalco,Domenico (ed.), 1997. "New Directions in the Economic Theory of the Environment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521590891, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Immordino & Anna Maria C. Menichini & Maria Grazia Romano, 2020. "Taxing and Regulating Vices," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(2), pages 622-647, April.
    2. Mr. Michael Keen, 2011. "The Taxation and Regulation of Banks," IMF Working Papers 2011/206, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2012. "Externality‐Correcting Taxes and Regulation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 358-383, June.
    4. Richard M. Bird & Sally Wallace, 2010. "Taxing Alcohol In Africa: Reflections And Updates," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1031, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    5. Bird,Richard M., 2015. "Tobacco and alcohol excise taxes for improving public health and revenue outcomes : marrying sin and virtue ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7500, The World Bank.
    6. Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2015. "Emissions Taxes and Abatement Regulation Under Uncertainty," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(1), pages 17-35, January.
    7. Josten, Cecily & Lordan, Grace, 2020. "The interaction between personality and health policy: Empirical evidence from the UK smoking bans," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    8. Antimiani, Alessandro & Costantini, Valeria & Kuik, Onno & Paglialunga, Elena, 2016. "Mitigation of adverse effects on competitiveness and leakage of unilateral EU climate policy: An assessment of policy instruments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 246-259.
    9. Marion Dupoux & Benjamin Ouvrard, 2023. "Harnessing social information to improve public support for Pigouvian taxes," Working Papers 2024-05, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    10. Rebecca L. Taylor & Sofia B. Villas-Boas, 2016. "Bans vs. Fees: Disposable Carryout Bag Policies and Bag Usage," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 351-372.
    11. Zike Cao & Kai-Lung Hui & Hong Xu, 2018. "An Economic Analysis of Peer Disclosure in Online Social Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 546-566, September.
    12. Louis Kaplow, 2017. "Optimal Regulation with Exemptions," NBER Working Papers 23887, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Markus Haavio & Kaisa Kotakorpi, 2012. "Sin Licenses Revisited," CESifo Working Paper Series 4010, CESifo.
    14. Taylor, Rebecca & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2015. "Bans versus Fees: Disposable Carryout Bag Policies and Bag Usage," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 204783, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Sijbren Cnossen, 2020. "Excise Taxation for Domestic Resource Mobilization," CESifo Working Paper Series 8442, CESifo.
    16. Shackelford, Douglas A. & Shaviro, Daniel N. & Slemrod, Joel, 2010. "Taxation and the Financial Sector," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 63(4), pages 781-806, December.
    17. Calcott, Paul, 2019. "Minimum unit prices for alcohol," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 18-26.
    18. Kaplow, Louis, 2019. "Optimal regulation with exemptions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 1-39.
    19. Abrardi, Laura & Cambini, Carlo, 2019. "Incentivizing self-control effort," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 13-30.
    20. Rafael Laurenti & Jagdeep Singh & Rajib Sinha & Josepha Potting & Björn Frostell, 2016. "Unintended Environmental Consequences of Improvement Actions: A Qualitative Analysis of Systems' Structure and Behavior," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 381-399, May.
    21. Nelson Jon P. & Moran John R., 2020. "Effects of Alcohol Taxation on Prices: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pass-Through Rates," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, January.
    22. Yasser A. Al-Rawi & Mohammed Harith Imlus & Yusri Yusup & Sofri Bin Yahya, 2021. "Factors affecting vehicle exhaust emissions, driver motivations as a mediator," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(2), pages 361-407, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eskeland, Gunnar S., 2000. "Environmental protection and optimal taxation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2510, The World Bank.
    2. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H., 2002. "Environmental taxation and regulation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1471-1545, Elsevier.
    3. Fullerton, Don & Wolverton, Ann, 2005. "The two-part instrument in a second-best world," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1961-1975, September.
    4. Lehmann, Paul, 2008. "Using a policy mix for pollution control: A review of economic literature," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2008, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    5. Eskeland, Gunnar S., 2000. "Externalities and production efficiency," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2319, The World Bank.
    6. Don Fullerton & Andrew Leicester & Stephen Smith, 2008. "Environmental Taxes," NBER Working Papers 14197, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Fullerton, Don & West, Sarah E., 2002. "Can Taxes on Cars and on Gasoline Mimic an Unavailable Tax on Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 135-157, January.
    8. Eduardo Dávila & Ansgar Walther, 2021. "Corrective Regulation with Imperfect Instruments," NBER Working Papers 29160, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Louis Kaplow, 2011. "An Optimal Tax System," NBER Working Papers 17214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jacobs, Bas & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2019. "Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 198-226.
    11. 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.
    12. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2006. "The Theory of Optimal Taxation: What is the Policy Relevance?," EPRU Working Paper Series 06-07, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    13. Gerard Russo, 1989. "Moral Hazard and Optimal Cigarette Taxation," Working Papers 198918, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    14. Spencer Bastani & Sebastian Koehne, 2022. "How Should Consumption Be Taxed?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10038, CESifo.
    15. Jaime Sempere, 2000. "Optimal Tax Rules, Pigou Taxation, and the “Double Dividend”," Economía Mexicana NUEVA ÉPOCA, CIDE, División de Economía, vol. 0(1), pages 93-103, January-J.
    16. Sijbren Cnossen, 2020. "Excise Taxation for Domestic Resource Mobilization," CESifo Working Paper Series 8442, CESifo.
    17. Geir H. M. Bjertnæs, 2019. "Efficient taxation of fuel and road use," Discussion Papers 905, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    18. Requate, Till, 2005. "Environmental Policy under Imperfect Competition: A Survey," Economics Working Papers 2005-12, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    19. Cropper, Maureen L & Oates, Wallace E, 1992. "Environmental Economics: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 675-740, June.
    20. Hellwig, Christian & Werquin, Nicolas, 2022. "Using Consumption Data to Derive Optimal Income and Capital Tax Rates," TSE Working Papers 22-1284, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jul 2024.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:114:y:2012:i:2:p:358-383. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9442 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.