IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/usn/usnawp/66.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Taxing Energy Use and Carbon Emissions to Reduce Global CO2 Levels

Author

Listed:
  • Karen Thierfelder

    (United States Naval Academy)

  • Scott McDonald

    (Humboldt University)

  • Sherman Robinson

    (Peterson Institute for International Economics)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect energy taxes have on CO2 emissions. The paper describes a short run response to current demands for mitigation, working through the price system to change behavior and using instruments currently available to governments. Other policy options such as changes to technology or the establishment of a market for carbon permits (i.e. cap and trade schemes) will take time to develop. This paper shows the implications of using either a sales tax on energy commodities or a tax on carbon to achieve mitigation objectives. A tax on carbon is more efficient than a tax on fossil fuels and requires less adjustment in terms of real GDP. The analysis also addresses the role of developing countries, finding that they can be exempt from tax changes with little effect on global CO2 emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen Thierfelder & Scott McDonald & Sherman Robinson, 2021. "Taxing Energy Use and Carbon Emissions to Reduce Global CO2 Levels," Departmental Working Papers 66, United States Naval Academy Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:usn:usnawp:66
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.usna.edu/EconDept/RePEc/usn/wp/usnawp66.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scott McDonald & Sherman Robinson & Karen Thierfelder, 2007. "Globe: A SAM Based Global CGE Model using GTAP Data," Departmental Working Papers 14, United States Naval Academy Department of Economics.
    2. Ian W. H. Parry, 2003. "Fiscal Interactions and the Case for Carbon Taxes Over Grandfathered Carbon Permits," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 385-399.
    3. Lawrence H. Goulder & Ian W.H. Parry & Roberton C. Williams III & Dallas Burtraw, 2002. "The Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Instruments for Environmental Protection in a Second-Best Setting," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 27, pages 523-554, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Nordhaus, William D, 1993. "Optimal Greenhouse-Gas Reductions and Tax Policy in the "Dice" Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 313-317, May.
    5. Hertel, Thomas, 1997. "Global Trade Analysis: Modeling and applications," GTAP Books, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, number 7685, December.
    6. Ang, B. W. & Lee, P. W., 1996. "Decomposition of industrial energy consumption: The energy coefficient approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1-2), pages 129-143, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Chia-Yon Chen & Adam Rose, 1990. "A Structural Decomposition Analysis of Changes in Energy Demand in Taiwan: 1971-1984," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 127-146.
    9. Pearce, David W, 1991. "The Role of Carbon Taxes in Adjusting to Global Warming," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(407), pages 938-948, July.
    10. Ang, B. W., 1995. "Multilevel decomposition of industrial energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 39-51, January.
    11. Devarajan Shantayanan & Go Delfin S & Robinson Sherman & Thierfelder Karen, 2011. "Tax Policy to Reduce Carbon Emissions in a Distorted Economy: Illustrations from a South Africa CGE Model," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, February.
    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. Adams, Philip D., 2008. "Insurance against Catastrophic Climate Change: How Much Will an Emissions Trading Scheme Cost Australia?," Conference papers 331770, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    2. Iain Fraser & Robert Waschik, 2010. "The Double Dividend Hypothesis in a CGE Model: Specific Factors and Variable Labour Supply," Working Papers 2010.02, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    3. 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.
    4. Jesper Stage, 2002. "Structural Shifts In Namibian Energy Use: An Input‐Output Approach," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(6), pages 1103-1125, September.
    5. Don Fullerton & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2002. "Environmental Controls, Scarcity Rents, and Pre-existing Distortions," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 26, pages 504-522, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Ditya Agung Nurdianto, 2016. "Economic Impacts of a Carbon Tax in an Integrated ASEAN," EEPSEA Special and Technical Paper tp201604t5, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Apr 2016.
    7. Jean-Christophe Caffet, 2005. "Health effects and optimal environmental taxes in welfare state countries," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques v05049, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    8. Pezzey, John C.V., 2006. "Neither the rock nor the hard place: using payment thresholds to balance the politics and the economics of emissions control," 2006 Conference (50th), February 8-10, 2006, Sydney, Australia 139892, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    9. Thomas Sadler, 2001. "Environmental taxation in an optimal tax framework," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 29(2), pages 215-231, June.
    10. Ang, B.W. & Zhang, F.Q., 2000. "A survey of index decomposition analysis in energy and environmental studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1149-1176.
    11. Ian W. H. Parry, 2003. "Fiscal Interactions and the Case for Carbon Taxes Over Grandfathered Carbon Permits," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 385-399.
    12. Pizer, William A. & Kopp, Raymond, 2005. "Calculating the Costs of Environmental Regulation," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 25, pages 1307-1351, Elsevier.
    13. Moz-Christofoletti, Maria Alice & Pereda, Paula Carvalho, 2021. "Winners and losers: the distributional impacts of a carbon tax in Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    14. Jacobs, Bas & de Mooij, Ruud A., 2015. "Pigou meets Mirrlees: On the irrelevance of tax distortions for the second-best Pigouvian tax," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 90-108.
    15. Sartzetakis, Eftichios S. & Tsigaris, Panagiotis D., 2009. "Uncertainty and the double dividend hypothesis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(5), pages 565-585, October.
    16. William K. Jaeger, 2002. "Carbon Taxation When Climate Affects Productivity," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(3), pages 354-367.
    17. Ditya A Nurdianto & Budy P Resosudarmo, 2014. "ASEAN Economic community and climate change," Departmental Working Papers 2014-24, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    18. Jean-Christophe Caffet, 2005. "Health effects and optimal environmental taxes in welfare state countries," Post-Print halshs-00194917, HAL.
    19. Jaume Freire-González & Mun S. Ho, 2018. "Environmental Fiscal Reform and the Double Dividend: Evidence from a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, February.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:usn:usnawp:66. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ednavus.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.