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The importance of the design of market-based instruments for CO2 mitigation: An AGE analysis for Spain

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  • González-Eguino, Mikel

Abstract

In the past few decades, economists have defended the use of market-based instruments (MBI) in environmental and climate policy. There have been many papers which have compared the costs of attaining environmental objectives with MBIs and with command and control instruments. However very few have compared different MBIs in examining these costs. This paper seeks to analyse various MBIs for CO2 mitigation from the viewpoint of cost-effectiveness, using an AGE (applied general equilibrium) model for the case of Spain. A distinction is drawn between (1) quantity instruments, which represent different extents of a market for emission permits; and (2) price instruments, which represent different types of tax. Each instrument can affect different segments of the emission sources and therefore can have very different effects on the economy as a whole. We show how MBI can help to minimise mitigation costs, but also how taxes and tradable emission permits that are limited or constrained by many exemptions and distortions can raise costs considerably.

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  • González-Eguino, Mikel, 2011. "The importance of the design of market-based instruments for CO2 mitigation: An AGE analysis for Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2292-2302.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:12:p:2292-2302
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.05.023
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    Cited by:

    1. Anderson, Blake & M'Gonigle, Michael, 2012. "Does ecological economics have a future?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 37-48.
    2. Zhou, P. & Wang, M., 2016. "Carbon dioxide emissions allocation: A review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 47-59.
    3. Alberto Gago & Xavier Labandeira & Xiral López Otero, 2014. "A Panorama on Energy Taxes and Green Tax Reforms," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 145-190, March.
    4. Diana Reckien & Johannes Flacke & Marta Olazabal & Oliver Heidrich, 2015. "The Influence of Drivers and Barriers on Urban Adaptation and Mitigation Plans—An Empirical Analysis of European Cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Christoph Böhringer, Xaquin Garcia-Muros, and Mikel González-Eguino, 2019. "Greener and Fairer: A Progressive Environmental Tax Reform for Spain," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    6. Anil Markandya & Mikel González- Eguino & Marta Escapa, 2012. "Environmental fiscal reform and unemployment in Spain," Chapters, in: Larry Kreiser & Ana Yábar Sterling & Pedro Herrera & Janet E. Milne & Hope Ashiabor (ed.), Carbon Pricing, Growth and the Environment, chapter 1, pages 3-16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Markandya, Anil & González-Eguino, Mikel & Escapa, Marta, 2013. "From shadow to green: Linking environmental fiscal reforms and the informal economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 108-118.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental policy instruments; Market-based instruments; Mitigation cost; General equilibrium analysis; Spain;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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