IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/nhhfms/2004_006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does Stochasticity matter? Dynamic Pigouvian Taxation in an Uncertain Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Sandal, Leif Kristoffer

    (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Steinshamn, Stein Ivar

    (Centre for Fisheries Economics, Institute for Research in Economics and Business Administration (SNF))

Abstract

The effects of discounting, stochasticity, non-linearities and maximum decay upon an optimal corrective tax are analyzed using stochastic dynamic optimization. Optimal corrective taxes are derived as explicit feedback control laws in the presence of both flow and stock externalities when the decay of aggregated pollution is subject to a general stochastic process. This represents an adaptive approach to regulation of the environment. The problem has been solved using a non-linear Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. The model applied is quite general in the state variable, accumulated pollution, and in the control variable, production. The objective function is to maximize expected social welfare defined as the sum of consumers’ and producers’ surplus adjusted for externalities. Social welfare is not assumed to be separable in production and accumulated pollution. The main result is that the optimal tax is more sensitive to discounting and non-linearities than to stochasticity.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandal, Leif Kristoffer & Steinshamn, Stein Ivar, 2004. "Does Stochasticity matter? Dynamic Pigouvian Taxation in an Uncertain Environment," Discussion Papers 2004/6, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2004_006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/164070
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sinclair, Peter J N, 1992. "High Does Nothing and Rising Is Worse: Carbon Taxes Should Keep Declining to Cut Harmful Emissions," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 60(1), pages 41-52, March.
    2. Wirl, Franz, 1994. "Global warming and carbon taxes: Dynamic and strategic interactions between energy consumers and producers," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 577-596, December.
    3. Sinclair, Peter J N, 1994. "On the Optimum Trend of Fossil Fuel Taxation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 869-877, Supplemen.
    4. Jorgenson, Dale W. & Wilcoxen, Peter J., 1990. "Intertemporal general equilibrium modeling of U.S. environmental regulation," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 715-744.
    5. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Roumasset, James & Tse, Kinping, 1997. "Endogenous Substitution among Energy Resources and Global Warming," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1201-1234, December.
    6. Wirl Franz, 1994. "Pigouvian Taxation of Energy for Flow and Stock Externalities and Strategic, Noncompetitive Energy Pricing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-18, January.
    7. Ulph, Alistair & Ulph, David, 1994. "The Optimal Time Path of a Carbon Tax," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 857-868, Supplemen.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sandal, Leif K. & Steinshamn, Stein Ivar & Grafton, R. Quentin, 2003. ""More is less": the tax effects of ignoring flow externalities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 239-254, August.
    2. Sandal, Leif Kristoffer & Steinshamn, Stein Ivar, 2004. "Pollution Decay, Consumer Awareness and Optimal Carbon Taxes," Discussion Papers 2004/7, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    3. Rubio, Santiago J. & Escriche, Luisa, 2001. "Strategic pigouvian taxation, stock externalities and polluting non-renewable resources," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 297-313, February.
    4. Christian Beermann, 2015. "Climate Policy and the Intertemporal Supply of Fossil Resources," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 62, March.
    5. Wie, Jiegen & Wennlock, Magnus & Johansson, Daniel J.A. & Sterner, Thomas, 2011. "The Fossil Endgame: Strategic Oil Price Discrimination and Carbon Taxation," RFF Working Paper Series dp-11-26, Resources for the Future.
    6. Hendrik Ritter & Mark Schopf, 2014. "Unilateral Climate Policy: Harmful or Even Disastrous?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(1), pages 155-178, May.
    7. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Magne, Bertrand & Moreaux, Michel, 2006. "A Hotelling model with a ceiling on the stock of pollution," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2875-2904, December.
    8. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:17:y:2008:i:13:p:1-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Mikhail Golosov & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2014. "Optimal Taxes on Fossil Fuel in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 41-88, January.
    10. Max Franks & Ottmar Edenhofer & Kai Lessmann, 2017. "Why Finance Ministers Favor Carbon Taxes, Even If They Do Not Take Climate Change into Account," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(3), pages 445-472, November.
    11. Belgodere, Antoine, 2007. "Ressource non renouvelable polluante : décentralisation de l'optimum en présence d'un pouvoir de marché [Polluting nonrenewable resources: decentralization of the optimum in the presence of market ," MPRA Paper 28278, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2019. "Addressing climate change through price and non-price interventions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 594-612.
    13. Eichner, Thomas & Pethig, Ru¨diger, 2013. "Flattening the carbon extraction path in unilateral cost-effective action," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 185-201.
    14. André Grimaud & Luc Rouge, 2008. "Environment, Directed Technical Change and Economic Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 41(4), pages 439-463, December.
    15. Guruswamy Babu, P. & Kavi Kumar, K. S. & Murthy, N. S., 1997. "An overlapping generations model with exhaustible resources and stock pollution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 35-43, April.
    16. Julien Daubanes, 2008. "Fossil fuels supplied by oligopolies: On optimal taxation and rent capture," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 17(13), pages 1-11.
    17. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Magné, Bertrand & Moreaux, Michel, 2003. "From Coal to Clean Energy : Hotelling with a Limit on the Stock of Externalities," IDEI Working Papers 229, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    18. Grimaud, André & Magné, Bertrand & Rougé, Luc, 2008. "Carbon Storage in a Growth Model with Climate and R&D Policy," IDEI Working Papers 536, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    19. L. Lambertini, 2014. "On the Interplay between Resource Extraction and Polluting Emissions in Oligopoly," Working Papers wp976, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    20. Eichner, Thomas & Pethig, Rüdiger, 2015. "Unilateral consumption-based carbon taxes and negative leakage," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 127-142.
    21. DAUBANES Julien & GRIMAUD André, 2006. "On the North-South Effects of Environmental Policy: Rent Transfers, Relocation and Growth," LERNA Working Papers 06.26.219, LERNA, University of Toulouse.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Global warming; flow and stock externalities; dynamic corrective taxes; stochastic dynamic optimisation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hhs:nhhfms:2004_006. 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: Stein Fossen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dfnhhno.html .

    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.