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Market Power in Emission Permit Markets: Theory and Evidence

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  • Beat Hintermann

Abstract

A well-known result about market power in emission permit markets is that efficiency can be achieved by full free allocation to the dominant firm. I show that this result breaks down when taking the interaction between input and output markets into account, even if the firm perceives market power in the permit market alone. In fact, the dominant firm may have an incentive to inflate the permit price even if it receives no free permits at all. I examine the empirical evidence for price manipulation by large electricity firms during Phase I of the EU ETS. I find that the pattern and extent of firms’ allowance holdings are consistent with strategic price manipulation, and they appear unlikely to be the result of precautionary purchases due to carbon risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Beat Hintermann, 2013. "Market Power in Emission Permit Markets: Theory and Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 4447, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4447
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hintermann, Beat & Peterson, Sonja & Rickels, Wilfried, 2014. "Price and market behavior in Phase II of the EU ETS," Kiel Working Papers 1962, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Jean-Philippe Nicolaï, 2015. "Emission Reduction and Profit-Neutral Permit Allocations," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 15/224, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    3. Johansson, Per-Olov, 2015. "Tradable Permits in Cost-Benefit Analysis," SSE Working Paper Series in Economics 2015:3, Stockholm School of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    emission permit market; market power; cost pass-through; price manipulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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