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Global carbon price asymmetry

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Ritz, RA 

Abstract

This paper studies a social planner who chooses countries’ carbon prices so as to maximize global welfare. Product markets are characterized by firm heterogeneity, market power, and international trade. Because of the market-power distortion, the planner’s optimal policy is second-best. The main insight is that optimal carbon prices may be highly asymmetric: zero in some countries and above the social cost of carbon in countries with relatively dirty production. This result obtains even though a uniform global carbon price is always successful at reducing countries’ emissions. Competition policy that mitigates market power may enable stronger climate action.

Description

Keywords

38 Economics, 3801 Applied Economics, 3802 Econometrics, 3803 Economic Theory, 13 Climate Action

Journal Title

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0095-0696

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier