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Pigouvian Taxation In A Ramsey World

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Boadway
  • Jean-Francois Tremblay

    (University of Ottawa)

Abstract

This paper studies the optimal Pigouvian tax for correcting pollution when the government also uses distortionary taxes to raise revenues. When preferences are quasilinear in leisure and additive, the Pigovian tax can be separated from the Ramsey revenue-raising tax. We characterize the relationship between the Pigouvian tax and marginal social damages in a variety of circumstances. In a setting with homogeneous households, the Pigouvian tax exceeds marginal damages if goods have inelastic demands, and vice versa. When households are heterogeneous so taxes can be redistributive, the Pigouvian tax gives more weight to damages suffered by low-income persons. The analysis is extended to allow for costly abatement. In general corrective taxes have to be applied to both emissions and output of the polluting good.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Boadway & Jean-Francois Tremblay, 2008. "Pigouvian Taxation In A Ramsey World," Working Paper 1167, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1167
    as

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    File URL: https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1167.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    4. Nava, M. & Schroyen, F. & Marchand, M., 1996. "Optimal fiscal and public expenditure policy in a two-class economy," LIDAM Reprints CORE 1231, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. Nava, Mario & Schroyen, Fred & Marchand, Maurice, 1996. "Optimal fiscal and public expenditure policy in a two-class economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 119-137, July.
    6. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz, 2001. "Second-best taxation of emissions and polluting goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 169-197, May.
    7. Helmuth Cremer & Firouz Gahvari & Norbert Ladoux, 2001. "Second-Best Pollution Taxes and the Structure of Preferences," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(2), pages 258-280, October.
    8. Feldstein, Martin S, 1972. "Distributional Equity and the Optimal Structure of Public Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 32-36, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bas Jacobs & Rick van der Ploeg, 2017. "Should Pollution Taxes be Targeted at Income Redistribution?," CESifo Working Paper Series 6599, CESifo.
    2. Firouz Gahvari, 2010. "Principle of Targeting in Environmental Taxation," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 26, pages 223-266.
    3. William Jaeger, 2011. "The Welfare Effects of Environmental Taxation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 49(1), pages 101-119, May.
    4. Firouz Gahvari, 2014. "Second-Best Pigouvian Taxation: A Clarification," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(4), pages 525-535, December.
    5. Jacobs, Bas & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2019. "Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 198-226.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pigouvian tax; optimal taxes; pollution tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

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