Unemployment and the backward incidence of pollution control

This paper reexamines the backward incidence of pollution control using duality theory for a two-sector general equilibrium model in which the economy experiences large-scale unemployment and perfect capital mobility with a sector-specific rigid wage in the polluting sector. In this context it is shown that with stricter pollution controls the wage rate in the nonpolluting sector rises while the common rental rate falls. In addition, stricter pollution controls are shown to have an uncertain impact on national income.     

The backward incidence of pollution control—some comparative statics in general equilibrium

The backward incidence of stronger pollution controls onto the factors of production is examined in a two sector (one polluting, one not), general equilibrium model. The real returns to labor and capital are found to move in opposite directions that depend on the factor intensity of the nonpolluting sector. The magnitudes of these effects are shown dependent upon the degree of factor intensity in that sector, the ease with which pollution can be removed from the effluent, the ease with which capital and labor can be substituted in either sector, and the price elasticities of demand for the sectors' products.     

Welfare cost of pollution control

A model of joint-production of a conventional output and of pollutants is presented, within which continuous substitution between polluting fuels and nonpolluting inputs on the one hand and pollution control inputs on the other is allowed for. Using the steel industry as a case study, the welfare cost under an efficient policy to reduce particulate emissions is evaluated and compared with that under alternative inefficient policies. The results suggest that substantial cost savings can be made by following the “optimal” policy.     

Optimal pollution in the presence of adjustment costs

This paper explores optimal pollution control when pollution is considered a stock and costs of treating pollution are a function both of the level and rate of change of pollution control. It is shown that even if the long run optimum stock of pollution is below the initial level adjustment costs may imply an optimally increasing stock of pollution in the short run. The results obtained are contrasted with those which emerge when adjustment costs are absent and when damages are taken to be a function of the flow of pollution; the appropriate tax rates of polluting discharges are examined.     

Pollution control in a simplified general-equilibrium model with production externalities

Pollution externalities of the producer-producer type are considered in a positive two-sector model with stationary capital and labor. By assumption, output from the polluting sector can be diverted to pollution abatement. Environmental authorities attempt to control the level of pollution to some minimum “acceptable” standard by requiring polluters to depollute through the mechanism of a uniform tax on production. Following discussion of short-run considerations, the stability of the tax-adjustment scheme is examined and the dynamic nature of growth paths in the economy is explored.     

Substitution and the control of pollution : A comparison of effluent charges and quantity standards under uncertainty

Single-valued price and quantity controls of a polluting activity are compared under uncertainty. The ability to substitute other inputs for the pollutant in the production of a positively valued final good, and the usual discrepancy between the amount of pollution actually consumed and the amount emitted are carefully incorporated. The first is found to influence the degree to which cost fluctuation is reflected in the output of the final good. The second concern alters the region of the benefit function into which output is inserted. Both change the welfare losses associated with random fluctuation in the costs of reducing pollution.     

天津市工业源污染物排放标准的优选

环境标准作为改善环境质量行之有效的手段,是实施污染减排的重要途径。针对天津市地方污染物排放标准的现状及问题,以天津市工业污染源为研究对象,从大气和水两方面入手,采用系统的数据分析方法,甄选出大气、水污染物中贡献率较大的行业以及特征污染因子的典型污染行业,从而提出天津市地方污染物排放标准制定的方向。     

Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves

This paper analyses optimal corrective taxation and optimal income redistribution. The Pigouvian pollution tax is higher if pollution damages disproportionally hurt the poor due to equity weighting of pollution damages. Moreover, under general utility functions, optimal pollution taxes should be set below the Pigouvian tax if the poor spend a disproportionate fraction of their income on polluting goods. However, if Engel curves are linear, optimal pollution taxes should follow the first-best rule for the Pigouvian corrective tax even if the government wants to redistribute income and the poor spend a disproportional part of their income on polluting goods. The often-used quasi-linear, CES and Stone-Geary utility functions all have linear Engel curves. If Engel curves are linear, and if pollution taxes are not optimised, Pareto-improving green tax reforms exist that move the pollution tax closer to the Pigouvian tax. Simulations demonstrate that optimal corrective taxes should be Pigouvian if the demand for polluting goods is derived from a LES demand system, but deviate from the Pigouvian taxes if demand for polluting goods demand is derived from a PIGLOG demand system.     

Environmental policy with upstream pollution abatement technology firms

This paper examines how the existence of an upstream abatement technology sector affects optimal environmental policy. We explore whether the policy should be especially stringent in order to spur a successful export industry based on abatement technology. Furthermore, we investigate if a stringent policy can be used to increase competition in the upstream sector. Our point of departure is a three-stage game between a government in a country with a polluting downstream industry, and a limited number of upstream firms supplying abatement technologies. The government moves first, and may use its environmental policy strategically to influence the behavior of the upstream technology firms. We find that an especially stringent environmental policy towards the polluting downstream sector may be well founded, as it increases competition between the technology suppliers, leading to lower abatement costs. However, to our surprise, an especially stringent environmental policy is not a particularly good industrial policy with respect to developing successful new export sectors based on abatement technology.     

Stochastic pollution, costly sanctions, and optimality of emission permit banking

This paper identifies a new economic motive for pollution regulations that allow polluting firms to bank and borrow emission permits over time. When aggregate pollution is stochastic, an intertemporal permit trading regime can provide firms with efficient incentives for pollution abatement without the need for costly government enforcement actions that would otherwise be required.     

Spatial economic theory of pollution control: Reflections on a paradox

In their analyses of the impact of pollution taxation on the location of polluting decisions, U. K. Mathur (J. Environ. Econom. Management 3, 16–28 (1976)) and S. S. Gokturk (J. Reg. Sci. 19, 461–467 (1979)) obtained the result that a tax increase on urban pollution concentration may not succeed in pushing the polluting firm away from the urban center. In this paper is shown that the sufficient condition for success in this case depends upon the specification of the production and pollution emissions technology and may be the opposite to the one posited by Mathur and has more intuitive appeal.     

Household incidence of pollution control policies: A robust welfare analysis using general equilibrium effects

This study assesses the incidence of pollution control policies on households. In contrast to previous studies, we employ an integrated framework combining a multisector general equilibrium model with a stochastic dominance analysis using household-level data. We consider three policy instruments in a domestic emission trading system: (i) an output-based allocation (OBA) of permits; (ii) the use of the proceeds of permit sales to reduce payroll taxes (RPT); (iii) and the use of these proceeds to reduce consumption taxes instead (UCS). The general equilibrium results suggest that the return to capital is more negatively affected than the wage rate in all simulations, since polluting industries are capital intensive. Abstracting from pollution externalities, the dominance analysis suggests that all three policies have a normatively robust negative (positive) impact on welfare (poverty). Formal dominance tests indicate that RPT first-order welfare dominates OBA over all values of household incomes. UCS also first-order poverty dominates RPT for any choice of poverty line below $CAN 18,600, and poverty dominates for any poverty line (and thus welfare dominates) at the second order. Finally, while the three pollution control policies do not have a numerically large impact on inequality (in comparison to the base run), statistical tests indicate that inequality increases significantly more with OBA and RPT than with UCS.     

Should the federal government subsidize industrial pollution control investment?

Tax-exempt financing of industrial pollution control equipment has increased rapidly in recent months. This method of subsidizing pollution abatement is known to be highly inefficient. If tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds were replaced by a more efficient subsidy the net financial benefits to polluting industries could probably be about doubled without any extra cost to American taxpayers. Increased utilization of an inefficient subsidy device and the international energy crisis make this a propitious time for tax experts and economists to re-examine the question, should industrial pollution control investments be subsidized?     

Pollution Haven and Corruption Paradise

In this paper, we present a simple theoretical extension from the Economic Geography literature to characterize the main features of pollution havens (lax environmental regulation, good market access to high-income countries and corruption opportunities). Using structural and reduced-form estimations, we find that pollution havens are not a “popular myth” for European firms, laxer environmental standards significantly explain the location choice of polluting affiliates. We analyze in depth the role of trade costs (using various bilateral and multilateral measures), a 1% increase in access to the European market from a pollution haven fosters relocation there by 0.1%. We also find that corruption lowers environmental standards, which strongly attract polluting firms: a 1% increase of corruption fuels relocation by 0.28%. We test the economic significance of these empirical findings via simulations. The protection of the European market (e.g., a carbon tax on imports) to stop relocations to pollution havens must be high (a decrease of the European market for Morocco and Tunisia equivalent to 13%) not to say prohibitive (31% for China).     

A relatively optimistic analysis of growth and pollution in a neoclassical framework

A series of neoclassical growth models, allowing for the fact that the production process results in pollution creation as well as useful output, is constructed and analyzed, placing particular emphasis on the role of technical progress. It is seen that firms not subject to pollution control are motivated to create an ever more polluting technology, but with control adequate technical progress allows exponential growth of per capita income with constant (or improving) environmental quality. If both limiting emissions and augmenting the absorptive capacity of the environment are available for pollution control, the marginal productivities of the two methods should be equalized.     

Pollution control is a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model

This paper examines the problem of pollution control is an economy which produces two commodities which have different polluting characteristics. The model sheds light on the change is the optimal combination of commodities such as public transportation as opposed to private transportation, detergents and soap, returnable and nonreturnable bottles, and so on.     

Environmental problems of Kavala region

In this paper the environmental problems of the Kavala region are analysed and evaluated. Risks and hazards to people and living stock are identified and main polluting generators are duly recognized. Impacts of pollution on sectorial economic activities is discussed in detail and proposals for facing the oncoming environmental crisis in the region are put forward.     

The choice of efficient pollution policies: Technology and economics in the control of sulphur dioxide

This article reexamines the choice between charges and regulations to control pollution, by concentrating on the example of sulphur dioxide. A summary of the technology of this pollutant is followed by a discussion of the informational requirements of alternative policies. Particular attention is paid to the distinction between continuous monitoring and spot checks, to the number of polluters, and to the relationship between inputs to the polluting process and emissions. The final section considers how the issues dealt with would apply to water pollution and concludes that charges are not a priori always preferable to regulations.     

High reduction of ozone and particulate matter during the 2016 G-20 summit in Hangzhou by forced emission controls of industry and traffic

Many regions in China experience air pollution episodes because of the rapid urbanization and industrialization over the past decades. Here we analyzed the effect of emission controls implemented during the G-20 2016 Hangzhou summit on air quality. Emission controls included a forced closure of highly polluting industries, and limiting traffic and construction emissions in the cities and surroundings. Particles with aerodynamic diameter lower than 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and ozone (O₃) were measured. We also simulated air quality using a forecast system consisting of the two-way coupled Weather Research and Forecast and Community Multi-scale Air Quality (WRF-CMAQ) model. Results show PM_2.5 and ozone levels in Hangzhou during the G-20 Summit were considerably lower than previous to the G-20 Summit. The predicted concentrations of ozone were reduced by 25.4%, whereas the predicted concentrations of PM_2.5 were reduced by 56%.     

Trade and Transboundary Pollution: Spatial Separation Reconsidered

Copeland and Taylor (1999, J. Int. Econ.47, 137–168) show that trade allows the spatial separation of two incompatible industries. Concentrating the polluting industry in one country eliminates its degenerative effects in the other. This paper extends the analysis by allowing for transboundary pollution. Thus specialization has indirect repercussions on the level of pollution in the other country. We show (i) how cross-national differences in exposure to pollution emissions can generate comparative advantage and (ii) under what condition the resulting trading pattern combined with transboundary pollution can increase pollution exposure with negative effects on productivity and welfare in both countries.