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Environmental Policy in General Equilibrium: New Insights from a Canonical Model

Author

Listed:
  • Cloé Garnache
  • Pierre Mérel
Abstract
This paper derives the incidence of a pollution tax in a stylized general equilibrium framework, building on previous work by Fullerton and Heutel (2007a). Using the CPI as numeraire, we show that tax incidence is a simpler problem than previously thought, and that general insights can be derived without the need to restrict the parameter space. In addition, the counterintuitive possibility that an increase in the tax could increase the pollution level vanishes. The choice of the CPI as numeraire is further justified by the fact that environmental taxes, notably carbon taxes, are typically indexed on inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Cloé Garnache & Pierre Mérel, 2020. "Environmental Policy in General Equilibrium: New Insights from a Canonical Model," CESifo Working Paper Series 8354, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8354
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnold C. Harberger, 1962. "The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(3), pages 215-215.
    2. Don Fullerton & Garth Heutel, 2010. "The General Equilibrium Incidence of Environmental Mandates," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 64-89, August.
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    4. Lawrence H. Goulder & Marc A. C. Hafstead & Roberton C. Williams III, 2016. "General Equilibrium Impacts of a Federal Clean Energy Standard," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 186-218, May.
    5. Fullerton Don & Heutel Garth, 2011. "Analytical General Equilibrium Effects of Energy Policy on Output and Factor Prices," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-26, January.
    6. Alex L. Marten & Richard Garbaccio & Ann Wolverton, 2019. "Exploring the General Equilibrium Costs of Sector-Specific Environmental Regulations," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(6), pages 1065-1104.
    7. Don Fullerton & Garth Heutel & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2012. "Does the Indexing of Government Transfers Make Carbon Pricing Progressive?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(2), pages 347-353.
    8. Fullerton, Don & Ta, Chi L., 2019. "Environmental policy on the back of an envelope: A Cobb-Douglas model is not just a teaching tool," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    9. Rausch, Sebastian & Schwarz, Giacomo A., 2016. "Household heterogeneity, aggregation, and the distributional impacts of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 43-57.
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    11. Braulke, Michael, 1984. "The Firm in Short-run Industry Equilibrium: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 750-753, September.
    12. Ruud de Mooij & A. Bovenberg, 1998. "Environmental Taxes, International Capital Mobility and Inefficient Tax Systems: Tax Burden vs. Tax Shifting," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(1), pages 7-39, February.
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    14. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H., 1997. "Costs of Environmentally Motivated Taxes in the Presence of Other Taxes: General Equilibrium Analyses," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 50(1), pages 59-88, March.
    15. Rausch, Sebastian & Metcalf, Gilbert E. & Reilly, John M., 2011. "Distributional impacts of carbon pricing: A general equilibrium approach with micro-data for households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 20-33.
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    17. Rivers, Nicholas, 2013. "Renewable energy and unemployment: A general equilibrium analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 467-485.
    18. Fullerton, Don & Monti, Holly, 2013. "Can pollution tax rebates protect low-wage earners?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 539-553.
    19. Rausch, Sebastian & Mowers, Matthew, 2014. "Distributional and efficiency impacts of clean and renewable energy standards for electricity," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 556-585.
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    21. Peter M. Mieszkowski, 1967. "On the Theory of Tax Incidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(3), pages 250-250.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bengt Kriström & Klarizze anne Puzon, 2023. "Time vs. money metrics for contingent valuation surveys: Theory and correlations from data on two marine ecosystems Theory and correlations from data on two marine ecosystems," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(2), pages 700-718.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax incidence; general equilibrium; relative prices; numeraire;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence

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