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Climate Change Policy under Polar Amplification

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  • Brock, W.
  • Xepapadeas, A.

Abstract

Polar amplification is an established scientific fact which has been associated with the surface albedo feedback and to heat and moisture transport from the Equator to the Poles. In this paper we unify a two-box climate model, which allows for heat and moisture transport from the southern region to the northern region, with an economic model of welfare optimization. Our main contribution is to show that by ignoring spatial heat and moisture transport and the resulting polar amplification, the regulator may overestimate or underestimate the tax on GHG emissions. The direction of bias depends on the relations between marginal damages from temperature increase in each region. We also determine the welfare cost when a regulator mistakenly ignores polar amplification. Finally we show the adjustments necessary to the market discount rate due to transport phenomena as well as how our two-box model can be extended to Ramsey-type optimal growth models. Numerical simulations confirm our theoretical results.

Suggested Citation

  • Brock, W. & Xepapadeas, A., 2016. "Climate Change Policy under Polar Amplification," MITP: Mitigation, Innovation and Transformation Pathways 232717, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:feemmi:232717
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.232717
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    Cited by:

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    3. Olga Shestak & Oleg L. Shcheka & Yury Klochkov, 2020. "Methodological aspects of use of countries experience in determining the directions of the strategic development of the Russian Federation arctic regions," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 11(1), pages 44-62, May.
    4. George Economides & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2018. "Monetary policy under climate change," Working Papers 247, Bank of Greece.
    5. Xepapadeas, Anastasios, 2024. "Uncertainty and climate change: The IPCC approach vs decision theory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Yongyang Cai & William Brock & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2023. "Climate Change Impact on Economic Growth: Regional Climate Policy under Cooperation and Noncooperation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(3), pages 569-605.
    7. Bretschger, Lucas, 2024. "Green Road is open: Economic Pathway with a carbon price escalator," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Bretschger, Lucas, 2021. "Getting the Costs of Environmental Protection Right: Why Climate Policy Is Inexpensive in the End," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    9. Torre, Davide La & Liuzzi, Danilo & Marsiglio, Simone, 2021. "Transboundary pollution externalities: Think globally, act locally?," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    10. Gadea Rivas, Marta Dolores, 2022. "Climate change heterogeneity: a new quantitative approach," UC3M Working papers. Economics 35442, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    11. Lucas Bretschger & Aimilia Pattakou, 2019. "As Bad as it Gets: How Climate Damage Functions Affect Growth and the Social Cost of Carbon," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(1), pages 5-26, January.
    12. William Brock & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2020. "The Economy, Climate Change and Infectious Diseases: Links and Policy Implications," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 811-824, August.
    13. Manoussi, Vassiliki & Xepapadeas, Anastasios & Emmerling, Johannes, 2018. "Climate engineering under deep uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 207-224.
    14. Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2022. "On the optimal management of environmental stock externalities," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(24), pages 2202679119-, June.
    15. Olga Shestak & Oleg L. Shcheka & Yury Klochkov, 0. "Methodological aspects of use of countries experience in determining the directions of the strategic development of the Russian Federation arctic regions," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 0, pages 1-19.
    16. Yongyang Cai, 2020. "The Role of Uncertainty in Controlling Climate Change," Papers 2003.01615, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2020.
    17. Boly, Mohamed & Combes, Jean-Louis & Menuet, Maxime & Minea, Alexandru & Motel, Pascale Combes & Villieu, Patrick, 2022. "Can public debt mitigate environmental debt? Theory and empirical evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Lucas Bretschger, 2020. "Getting the Costs of Environmental Protection Right," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 20/341, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    19. Peter von zur Muehlen, 2022. "Prices and Taxes in a Ramsey Climate Policy Model under Heterogeneous Beliefs and Ambiguity," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-56, October.
    20. Christos Karydas & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2019. "Climate change risks: pricing and portfolio allocation," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 19/327, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    21. Marc Gronwald, 2023. "Explosive Temperatures," CESifo Working Paper Series 10680, CESifo.

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    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy;

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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