IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_8749.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Kantians Defy the Economists' Mantra of Uniform Pigovian Emissions Taxes

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Eichner
  • Rüdiger Pethig

Abstract

This paper analyzes the efficient emissions taxation in economies with individuals who are morally motivated to reduce their emissions footprint. They are heterogenous with respect to their morality and their consumption preferences. We distinguish between the concepts of moral and conventional utilitarian (= material) welfare. The materially efficient tax rates turn out to be consumer-type specific; they are smaller than the Pigovian tax rate; and the smaller, the higher the individuals’ propensity to act morally. Finally, we briefly characterize the second-best uniform emissions tax.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2020. "Kantians Defy the Economists' Mantra of Uniform Pigovian Emissions Taxes," CESifo Working Paper Series 8749, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8749
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp8749.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ravi Kanbur & Jukka Pirttilä & Matti Tuomala, 2006. "Non‐Welfarist Optimal Taxation And Behavioural Public Economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 849-868, December.
    2. 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.
    3. Christopher R. Knittel & Ryan Sandler, 2018. "The Welfare Impact of Second-Best Uniform-Pigouvian Taxation: Evidence from Transportation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 211-242, November.
    4. Eckerstorfer, Paul & Wendner, Ronald, 2013. "Asymmetric and non-atmospheric consumption externalities, and efficient consumption taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 42-56.
    5. 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.
    6. Marc Daube & David Ulph, 2016. "Moral Behaviour, Altruism and Environmental Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(2), pages 505-522, February.
    7. Welsch, Heinz, 2020. "Moral Foundations and Voluntary Public Good Provision: The Case of Climate Change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    8. Ingela Alger & Jörgen W. Weibull, 2020. "Morality: evolutionary foundations and economic implications," Post-Print hal-02797081, HAL.
    9. Chorus, Caspar G., 2015. "Models of moral decision making: Literature review and research agenda for discrete choice analysis," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 69-85.
    10. Bilodeau, Marc & Gravel, Nicolas, 2004. "Voluntary provision of a public good and individual morality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 645-666, March.
    11. Alger, Ingela & Van Leeuwen, Boris, 2019. "Estimating Social Preferences and Kantian Morality in Strategic Interactions," TSE Working Papers 19-1056, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Nov 2023.
    12. Karine Nyborg, 2018. "Social Norms and the Environment," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 405-423, October.
    13. Ingela Alger & Jörgen W. Weibull, 2013. "Homo Moralis—Preference Evolution Under Incomplete Information and Assortative Matching," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2269-2302, November.
    14. Andreoni, James, 1990. "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 464-477, June.
    15. Helmuth Cremer & Firouz Gahvari & Norbert Ladoux, 2002. "Externalities and Optimal Taxation," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 14, pages 210-232, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Alger, Ingela & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2016. "Evolution and Kantian morality," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 56-67.
    17. Peter A. Diamond, 1973. "Consumption Externalities and Imperfect Corrective Pricing," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 4(2), pages 526-538, Autumn.
    18. Roemer, John E., 2015. "Kantian optimization: A microfoundation for cooperation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 45-57.
    19. Don Fullerton & Inkee Hong & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2001. "A Tax on Output of the Polluting Industry Is Not a Tax on Pollution: The Importance of Hitting the Target," NBER Chapters, in: Behavioral and Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy, pages 13-44, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Ottmar Edenhofer & Max Franks & Matthias Kalkuhl, 2021. "Pigou in the 21st Century: a tribute on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Economics of Welfare," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1090-1121, October.
    21. repec:bla:econom:v:42:y:1975:i:168:p:430-37 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Carlo Carraro & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2001. "Behavioral and Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number carr01-1.
    23. repec:grz:wpaper:2013-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Boris van Leeuwen & Ingela Alger, 2024. "Estimating Social Preferences and Kantian Morality in Strategic Interactions," Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 665-706.
    25. Luca Micheletto, 2011. "Optimal Nonlinear Redistributive Taxation and Public Good Provision in an Economy with Veblen Effects," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 13(1), pages 71-96, February.
    26. Ngo Long, 2020. "A Dynamic Game with Interaction Between Kantian Players and Nashian Players," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Pierre-Olivier Pineau & Simon Sigué & Sihem Taboubi (ed.), Games in Management Science, pages 249-267, Springer.
    27. Bruno Frey, 1992. "Pricing and regulating affect environmental ethics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(4), pages 399-414, July.
    28. Harsanyi, John C., 1992. "Game and decision theoretic models in ethics," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, in: R.J. Aumann & S. Hart (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 19, pages 669-707, Elsevier.
    29. Ertz, Myriam & Karakas, Fahri & Sarigöllü, Emine, 2016. "Exploring pro-environmental behaviors of consumers: An analysis of contextual factors, attitude, and behaviors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 3971-3980.
    30. Andreoni, James, 1988. "Privately provided public goods in a large economy: The limits of altruism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 57-73, February.
    31. Mikhail Golosov & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2014. "Optimal Taxes on Fossil Fuel in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 41-88, January.
    32. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2021. "Climate Policy and Moral Consumers," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(4), pages 1190-1226, October.
    33. John E. Roemer, 2010. "Kantian Equilibrium," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(1), pages 1-24, March.
    34. Grafton, R. Quentin & Kompas, Tom & Long, Ngo Van, 2017. "A brave new world? Kantian–Nashian interaction and the dynamics of global climate change mitigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 31-42.
    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. Stefan Ambec & Philippe de Donder, 2022. "Environmental policy with green consumerism," Post-Print hal-04755367, HAL.
    2. Ambec, Stefan & De Donder, Philippe, 2022. "Environmental policy with green consumerism," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Esteban Muñoz Sobrado, 2022. "Taxing Moral Agents," CESifo Working Paper Series 9867, CESifo.
    4. Thomas Eichner & Marco Runkel, 2024. "Homo Oeconomicus as the Homo Moralis’ Party Pooper: Heterogeneous Morality in Public Good Games," CESifo Working Paper Series 11231, CESifo.
    5. Ellalee, Haider & Alali, Walid Y., 2022. "Social welfare Promotion, Carbon Emission and Tax," EconStor Preprints 274657, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Ellalee, Haider & Alali, Walid Y., 2022. "Social welfare Promotion, Carbon Emission and Tax," MPRA Paper 117508, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Sep 2022.

    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. Eichner, Thomas & Pethig, Rüdiger, 2024. "International environmental agreements when countries behave morally," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    2. Charles Ayoubi & Boris Thurm, 2023. "Knowledge diffusion and morality: Why do we freely share valuable information with Strangers?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 75-99, January.
    3. Thomas Eichner & Marco Runkel, 2024. "Homo Oeconomicus as the Homo Moralis’ Party Pooper: Heterogeneous Morality in Public Good Games," CESifo Working Paper Series 11231, CESifo.
    4. Alistair Ulph & David Ulph, 2023. "International Cooperation and Kantian Moral Behaviour – Complements or Substitutes?," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2302, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    5. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2022. "International Environmental Agreements When Countries Behave Morally," CESifo Working Paper Series 10090, CESifo.
    6. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2024. "How Important Are IEAs for Mitigation If Countries Are of the Homo Moralis Type?," CESifo Working Paper Series 11040, CESifo.
    7. Bezin, Emeline & Ponthière, Gregory, 2019. "The tragedy of the commons and socialization: Theory and policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Jean-François Laslier, 2023. "Universalization and altruism," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(4), pages 579-594, May.
    9. Esteban Muñoz Sobrado, 2022. "Taxing Moral Agents," CESifo Working Paper Series 9867, CESifo.
    10. Sebastian Bervoets & Kohmei Makihara, 2023. "Public Goods in Networks: Comparative Statics Results," AMSE Working Papers 2317, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    11. Tóbiás, Áron, 2023. "Rational Altruism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 50-80.
    12. Casal, Sandro & Fallucchi, Francesco & Quercia, Simone, 2019. "The role of morals in three-player ultimatum games," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 67-79.
    13. Alberto Grillo, 2020. "Ethical Voting in Heterogenous Groups," AMSE Working Papers 2034, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Apr 2021.
    14. Alger, Ingela & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2016. "Morality: evolutionary foundations and policy implications," TSE Working Papers 16-702, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Kang, Seongill, 2022. "The interactive dynamics of autonomous and heteronomous motives," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 11-26.
    16. Alberto Grillo, 2020. "Ethical Voting in Heterogenous Groups," Working Papers halshs-02962464, HAL.
    17. Stéphane Gauthier & Fanny Henriet, 2023. "Targeting Taxes on Local Externalities," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 151, pages 1-36.
    18. Ingela Alger & Jörgen W. Weibull, 2017. "Strategic Behavior of Moralists and Altruists," Games, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-21, September.
    19. Eckerstorfer, Paul & Wendner, Ronald, 2013. "Asymmetric and non-atmospheric consumption externalities, and efficient consumption taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 42-56.
    20. Herman Vollebergh, 2004. "Lessons from the Polder: Is Dutch CO2-Taxation Optimal?," Working Papers 2004.6, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pigovian tax; material; moral; Kantian; consumer-type tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_8749. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.