Strategic Environmental Policy and the Mobility of Firms

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

The loss of international competitiveness of domestic industries remains a key obstacle to the implementation of effective carbon prices in a world without harmonized climate policies. We analyze countries’ noncooperative choices of emissions taxes under imperfect competition and mobile polluting firms. In our general equilibrium setup with trade, wage effects prevent all firms from locating in the same country. While under local or no pollution countries achieve the first-best, under transboundary pollution taxes are inefficiently low and lower than under autarky where only the “standard” free-riding incentive distorts emissions taxes. This effect is more pronounced when polluting firms are mobile.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)863-893
Number of pages31
JournalJournal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists : JAERE
Volume8
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85108846259
Mendeley 10e3e759-8c16-3bc2-bed7-8ebe402b9b19

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Strategic environmental policy, Carbon leakage, Firm location, General equilibrium