IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v27y2006i2p113-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Searching for Triple Dividends in South Africa: Fighting CO2 pollution and poverty while promoting growth

Author

Listed:
  • Jan van Heerden
  • Reyer Gerlagh
  • James Blignaut
  • Mark Horridge
  • Sebastiaan Hess
  • Ramos Mabugu
  • Margaret Mabugu

Abstract

A CGE model of South Africa is used to find the potential for a double or triple dividend if the revenues raised from an energy-related environmental tax are recycled to households and industry through lowering existing taxes. Four environmental taxes and three revenue-recycling schemes are compared. The environmental taxes are (i) a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, (ii) a fuel tax, (iii) a tax on electricity use, and (iv) an energy tax. The four taxes are constructed such that they have a comparable effect on emissions. The revenue is recycled through either (i) a direct tax break on both labour and capital, (ii) an indirect tax break to all households, or (iii) a reduction in the price of food. A triple dividend is found - decreasing emissions, increasing GDP, and decreasing poverty - when any one of the environmental taxes is recycled through a reduction in food prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan van Heerden & Reyer Gerlagh & James Blignaut & Mark Horridge & Sebastiaan Hess & Ramos Mabugu & Margaret Mabugu, 2006. "Searching for Triple Dividends in South Africa: Fighting CO2 pollution and poverty while promoting growth," The Energy Journal, , vol. 27(2), pages 113-142, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:27:y:2006:i:2:p:113-142
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol27-No2-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol27-No2-7
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol27-No2-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bye, Brita, 2000. "Environmental Tax Reform and Producer Foresight: An Intertemporal Computable General Equilibrium Analysis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 719-752, November.
    2. Lawrence H. Goulder & Ian W.H. Parry & Dallas Burtraw, 2002. "Revenue-Raising versus Other Approaches to Environmental Protection: The Critical Significance of Preexisting Tax Distortions," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 24, pages 447-470, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. World Bank, 2003. "The Little Green Data Book 2003," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13833.
    6. 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, vol. 50(1), pages 59-88, March.
    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. Domguia, Edmond Noubissi & Ngounou, Borice Augustin & Pondie, Thierry Messie & Bitoto, Fabrice Ewolo, 2024. "Environmental tax and energy poverty: An economic approach for an environmental and social solution," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).

    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. Anthony Letsoalo & James Blignaut & Theuns de Wet & Martin de Wit & Sebastiaan Hess & Richard S.J. Tol & Jan van Heerden, 2005. "Triple Dividends Of Water Consumption Charges In South Africa," Working Papers FNU-62, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Apr 2005.
    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.
    3. Nicholas Kilimani, 2014. "Water Taxation and the Double Dividend Hypothesis," Working Papers 201451, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    4. Freire-González, Jaume, 2018. "Environmental taxation and the double dividend hypothesis in CGE modelling literature: A critical review," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 194-223.
    5. Roberton C. Williams III, 2002. "Environmental Tax Interactions When Pollution Affects Health or Productivity," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 13, pages 200-209, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Ian W.H. Parry & Wallace E. Oates & Ian W.H. Parry & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "Policy Analysis in the Presence of Distorting Taxes," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 4, pages 67-77, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Fullerton, Don & Heutel, Garth, 2007. "The general equilibrium incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 571-591, April.
    8. Cloé Garnache & Pierre Mérel, 2022. "Environmental Policy in General Equilibrium: New Insights from a Canonical Model," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(1), pages 113-140.
    9. Don Fullerton & Holly Monti, 2010. "Can Pollution Tax Rebates Protect Low-Income Families? The Effects of Relative Wage Rates," NBER Working Papers 15935, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. 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.
    11. Bergman, Lars, 2005. "CGE Modeling of Environmental Policy and Resource Management," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1273-1306, Elsevier.
    12. Claudio Socci & Irfan Ahmed & Silvia D’Andrea & Stefano Deriu & Naif Mansour Mathkur, 2024. "Role of carbon tax in a sustainable economic growth," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 20987-21017, August.
    13. Parry, Ian W. H., 2002. "Funding transportation spending in metropolitan Washington, DC: the costs of alternative revenue sources," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 362-390, September.
    14. Axel Dreher, 2002. "Does Globalization Affect Growth?," Development and Comp Systems 0210004, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Jun 2003.
    15. Parry, Ian W. H. & Williams III, Roberton C., 1999. "A second-best evaluation of eight policy instruments to reduce carbon emissions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3-4), pages 347-373, August.
    16. Aldy, Joseph E. & Ley, Eduardo & Parry, Ian, 2008. "A Tax–Based Approach to Slowing Global Climate Change," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 61(3), pages 493-517, September.
    17. A. Lans Bovenberg & Lawrence H. Goulder, 2001. "Neutralizing the Adverse Industry Impacts of CO2 Abatement Policies: What Does It Cost?," NBER Chapters, in: Behavioral and Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy, pages 45-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bhatia, Kul B, 1998. "Tax Incidence with Three Goods and Two Primary Factors: Theory and Applications," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 53(2), pages 123-144.
    19. Parry, Ian, 2001. "How Should Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Finance Its Transportation Deficit?," RFF Working Paper Series dp-01-12, Resources for the Future.
    20. Kancs, d'Artis & Wohlgemuth, Norbert, 2008. "Evaluation of renewable energy policies in an integrated economic-energy-environment model," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 128-139, January.

    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:sae:enejou:v:27:y:2006:i:2:p:113-142. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.