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Tax induced emissions? Estimating short-run emission impacts from carbon taxation under different market structures

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  • Leslie, Gordon

Abstract

This article finds that the introduction of a carbon tax increased short-run carbon emissions in an imperfectly competitive wholesale electricity market. The unique feature of the Western Australian setting is that the same carbon tax was introduced and later repealed, but the market structure differed at each event. At the repeal event, the dominant firm had less incentive to exercise unilateral market power. Then, the opposite result is observed — emissions were lower with the tax. I show how the short-run impact of pollution taxation in imperfect markets depends on production technologies, market structure and the size of the tax.

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  • Leslie, Gordon, 2018. "Tax induced emissions? Estimating short-run emission impacts from carbon taxation under different market structures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 220-239.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:167:y:2018:i:c:p:220-239
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.09.010
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    Cited by:

    1. Fraser, Alastair & Kuok, Jonathan Chiew Sheen & Leslie, Gordon W., 2023. "Climate reform and transitional industry assistance: Windfall profits for polluters?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Leslie, Gordon W., 2021. "Who benefits from ratepayer-funded auctions of transmission congestion contracts? Evidence from New York," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Stefan Lamp & Mario Samano, 2023. "(Mis)allocation of Renewable Energy Sources," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 195-229.
    4. Bowei Guo & Newbery David, 2023. "The Cost of Carbon Leakage: Britain’s Carbon Price Support and Cross-border Electricity Trade," The Energy Journal, , vol. 44(1), pages 9-32, January.
    5. Gonçalves, Ricardo & Menezes, Flávio, 2024. "The carbon tax and the crisis in Australia’s National Electricity Market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Ara Jo & Christos Karydas, 2023. "Firm Heterogeneity, Industry Dynamics and Climate Policy," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 23/378, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    7. Boqiang Lin & Zhijie Jia, 2020. "Supply control vs. demand control: why is resource tax more effective than carbon tax in reducing emissions?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Sheng, Pengfei & Li, Jun & Zhai, Mengxin & Huang, Shoujun, 2020. "Coupling of economic growth and reduction in carbon emissions at the efficiency level: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    9. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang & Liu, Xiying, 2023. "Rethinking the equity and efficiency of carbon tax: A novel perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental taxes and subsidies; Oligopoly and other imperfect markets; Firm organization and market structure; Electric utilities; Energy and environmental policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • L98 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Government Policy
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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