Tax Effects in a Model of Product Differentiation: A Note

We investigate how unit (or specific) tax and ad valorem tax affect equilibrium location choice in a model of product differentiation, which includes Hotelling (linear-city) and Vickrey-Salop (circular-city) spatial models as special cases. We find that neither tax affects equilibrium location patterns as long as each firm has the same production cost. Two taxes can yield different location patterns under cost heterogeneity among firms.     

Environmental Product Differentiation and Environmental Awareness

In this paper, we have considered a duopolistic model of environmental product differentiation with two types of consumers (green and brown) to analyze how environmental awareness affects the environment. “Green” consumers value the physical and environmental attributes of the good they purchase while “brown” consumers only value the physical attributes. We find that more environmental awareness may not be good news for the environment as the firm that produces the good without environmental attributes may increase its sales. The result depends on the degree of product differentiation and the cost to achieve it. Social welfare can also be inversely related to environmental awareness if the negative environmental effect dominates the positive market effect.      

Double Irreversibility and Environmental Policy Timing

The timing of environmental policy typically takes place within a framework in which uncertainty over the future impact of pollution and two different kinds of irreversibilities interact. The first kind of irreversibility concerns the sunk cost of environmental degradation; the second is related to the sunk cost of environmental policy. Clearly, the two irreversibilities pull in opposite directions: policy irreversibility leads to more pollution and a less/later policy, while environmental irreversibility generates less pollution and a more/sooner policy. Using a real option approach and an infinite time horizon model, this paper considers both irreversibilities simultaneously. The model first is developed by paying particular attention to the option values related to pollution and policy adoption. The environmental policy we consider consists in increasing the natural assimilation rate. Solving the model in closed form then provides solutions for both the optimal pollution level and the optimal environmental policy timing. Finally, we provide a numerical example with the purpose of appraising which irreversibility has the prevailing effect and what is the overall impact of both irreversibilities on pollution and policy timing.     

Optimal Licensing Policy under Vertical Product Differentiation

This paper explores a vertical product differentiation model with a licensing arrangement between a multinational firm with superior technology and a domestic firm with obsolete technology. We find that a subsidy provided by the domestic country's government to the domestic firm to assist with the licensing arrangement is welfare enhancing for the domestic country. Furthermore, both the multinational firm and the domestic country are better off under royalty than under fixed fee licensing. These findings stand in contrast to earlier results in the literature.     

Precautionary Principle and the Optimal Timing of Environmental Policy Under Ambiguity

I consider a problem in environmental policy design in which I focus on stock pollutants. In particular, I consider stock pollutants that cause severe damage on the environment and do not depreciate at all once they are released into the atmosphere and the ocean. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to provide an economic foundation for environmental policies based on the precautionary principle and the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and (2) to show that this optimal timing rule has a reservation property. Furthermore, I analyze the effect of an increase in ambiguity on the optimal timing of adopting some environmental policy, and show that an increase in ambiguity decreases the optimal timing of adopting the environmental policy.     

A Note on the Theory of Charitable Fund-raising: The Role of Refunds

Andreoni (1998, Journal of Political Economy 106 , 1186–1213) shows that a small amount of seed money from the government can generate substantial additional private donations toward the provision of a public good, when there is a threshold level of provision below which no benefits are achieved. We argue that Andreoni's solution can be extended to a mechanism where refunds are possible. We then argue that a greater "bang per buck" may be achieved if the seed money is targeted to cover the administrative costs of providing refunds.     

关于产品差别问题研究的回顾与综述

产品差别问题既是微观经济学中分析垄断竞争的出发点又是当代西方产业经济中重要的前沿问题。本文比较系统地回顾了产品差别问题的研究历程，综述了产品差别研究中的重要观点和成果，概要展示了最新的研究动态，还对产品差别前期研究结果作了一个简单的评价。     

The Role of Cultural Worldviews in Willingness to Pay for Environmental Policy

Environmental and Resource Economics - Recent research in the social psychology literature suggests that personally held beliefs may play a pivotal role in individuals’ acceptance of...     

A Note on Environmental Awareness and Cross-Border Pollution

Considering a Nash equilibrium in which a developed country chooses the amount of foreign aid and a developing country sets the emission tax rate and the proportion of the received aid allocated to public abatement of pollution, it is shown that an increase in the recipient countrys environmental awareness will reduce the level of cross-border pollution and benefits the donor though its foreign aid is increased.     

A Search Theoretic Approach on Environmental Taxation under Productive Differentials: A Note

A considerable amount of literature argues that environmental taxation fails to create a double-dividend outcome and leads to a trade-off between pollution levels and unemployment. In this paper, a simple search and matching model of labour market is developed where workers are characterized by heterogeneous productive abilities in order as to examine the impact of a pollution tax on employment. An attempt is made in order to determine the efficient level of taxation in the short run, dropping the assumption of free-entry (zero profits) of firms.     

Household Adoption of Water-Efficient Equipment: The Role of Socio-Economic Factors,Environmental Attitudes and Policy

Using survey data of around 10,000 households from 10 OECD countries, we identify the driving factors of household adoption of water-efficient equipment by estimating Probit models of a household’s probability to invest in such equipment. The results indicate that environmental attitudes and ownership status are strong predictors of adoption of water-efficient equipment. In terms of policy, we find that households that were both metered and charged for their water individually had a much higher probability to invest in water-efficient equipment compared to households that paid a flat fee.     

Special Policy Forum on Unemployment: Editorial Note

The papers for this Policy Forum were presented at a Melbourne Institute Conference in November. Comments by discussants are included.     

A Note on the High–quality Advantage in Vertical Differentiation Models

It is well established in vertical product differentiation models that the high–quality firm reaps a larger profit in a two–stage quality–price game as long as the cost of quality improvement is zero or is borne as fixed cost in the first stage quality choice. This note shows that the high–quality advantage may fail to hold if there is variable cost of production that is dependent on quality.     

Taking Time for the Environment: On Timing and the Role of Delays in Environmental and Resource Economics

Ecosystem transformation and climate change evolve over long time scales. The effects of the economic decisions on the natural environment are also of a long-run character because they relate to investment decisions and capital stocks. At the same time, the economy is short-sighted and subject to different kinds of market failures. The time it takes to notice the changes and adequately address the associated problems affects the dynamics and inertia of the process. We discuss some recent contributions and new research questions that deal with time and timing in environmental and resource economics.     

The Role of Information Provision as a Policy Instrument to Supplement Environmental Taxes

This paper examines, within a dynamic framework, the role of information provision as a policy instrument to supplement environmental taxation. Several products are responsible for health as well as environmental damages. Many consumers do not possess the required information to optimally substitute away from these products. However, as the stock of information regarding the negative effects of these products builds up, an increasing fraction of consumers behaves optimally. The government uses two policy instruments, environmental taxation and information provision. We show that as the accumulated stock of information increases, the optimal tax rate declines over time. Information provision can shift market demand towards environmentally friendly goods over time, and thus reduce the required level of the tax rate. Our results provide strong evidence in support of information campaigns as a policy instrument to supplement traditional environmental policies.     

Product Market Integration and Environmental Policy Coordination in An International Duopoly

We analyse the effect of product market integration on environmental policy incentives in an international duopoly, where national policy makers act strategically. If traditional trade policy instruments are not available, environmental policies will typically be determined by the interaction of conflicting policy incentives. Contrary to popular belief, we find that international product market integration, in this particular setting, might reduce the need for transnational policy coordination, both from a purely environmental and from a social welfare perspective.