Global carbon price asymmetry

Authors
Ritz, RA 

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Type
Article
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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.

Publication Date
2022-07
Online Publication Date
2022-06-03
Acceptance Date
2022-05-27
Keywords
38 Economics, 3801 Applied Economics, 3802 Econometrics, 3803 Economic Theory, 13 Climate Action
Journal Title
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Journal ISSN
0095-0696
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier