Recycling of carbon/energy taxes and the labor market

This paper provides a quantitative assessmet of a cost shift from labor to energy by means of a carbon/energy tax. The analysis utilizes a general equilibrium model for the European Community, placing the emphasis on the modeling of labor supply. The paper highlights the importance of the feedback from an induced increase in labor demand to wage formation. It shows that the goals of CO₂ reduction and improved employment are complementary, provided the reduction in labor costs financed by the carbon/energy tax is not offset by increased wage claims. Under this condition, reduced CO₂ is consistent with an increase in GDP.     

集聚与扩散:异质性劳动力和多样化贸易成本的空间经济效应

文章将异质性劳动力及地区内和地区间的多样化贸易成本同时引入空间经济模型,建立了一般均衡模型。分析结果表明,低成本约束的人力资本比高成本约束的普通劳动力流动更容易打破空间经济集聚和扩散的对称均衡,促使产业空间结构稳定地向人力资本丰富的地区集聚。文章还从福利最优化的角度分析了政府对空间经济结构的规划选择,结论显示降低普通劳动力在地区间流动的成本有利于形成分散均衡的经济格局,实现社会公平。     

基于人力资本视角的劳动力市场非均衡分析

以非均衡理论为基础,构建了具有人力资本因素的劳动力市场非均衡模型,探讨了引入人力资本因素后非均衡劳动力市场如何变化,以及在不同的非均衡区域的劳动力市场供求关系的变化对人力资本因素的要求和影响,据此提出了相应的经济决策方法和建议。     

Environmental policy and long-term welfare in a tourism economy

A dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy specialized in producing tourism services is presented. The tourism package is a bundle of attributes provided by firms, the government and the natural environment. Investment in accommodation increases the number of visitors but also congests public goods and reduces environmental quality. The model is used to determine the conditions for the existence of a long-term double dividend. These conditions depend on both the initial level of environmental quality and the responsiveness of the tourism price to marginal changes in environmental and accommodation quality and congestion of public goods. Support from the Balearic Islands Government (PRIB-2004-10142) and helpful comments from anonymous referees are gratefully thanked.     

动态宏观经济视角下的环境规制政策研究

通过引入环境质量、污染排放、环境规制政策等因素对经典的动态随机一般均衡模型进行拓展,构建了一个包含环境因素,并可用于比较不同环境规制政策作用的分析框架,以此来研究环境税、排污许可证和排放强度三种不同类型的环境规制政策对经济和环境的不同影响。结果表明,环境规制政策对经济活动有抑制作用,在经济波动时能发挥“自动稳定器”作用,其中排放强度政策造成的经济损失最大,环境收益最为明显,排污许可证政策对环境质量提升作用最小,造成的经济损失也最小,“自动稳定器”作用也最为显著;同时,企业单位排放强度的降低能有效减少污染排放,提升环境质量和社会福利,而政府环保投入转化率的提高,对环境和经济的影响非常有限。     

Market and underground activities in a two-sector dynamic equilibrium model

Summary. In this paper a two sector dynamic general equilibrium model is developed in order to evaluate the implications of the underground economy from a business cycle perspective. There are three main results. First, introducing an underground sector improves the fit of the model to the data, especially along several important labor market dimensions. Second, the model produces substantial internal propagation of temporary shocks. Third, it is shown that underground activities offer risk sharing opportunities by allowing households to smooth income through a proper labor allocation between the two sectors.Received: 17 June 2002, Revised: 25 April 2003, JEL Classification Numbers: E320, E260, J22, H200.We have benefited from the comments and suggestions of John Donaldson. We would also like to thank Paolo Siconolfi, Jean Pierre Danthine, Fausto Gozzi, Edmund Phelps, Gustavo Piga, Domenico Tosato, and the participants in the seminars at various universities, David Giles and Stefano Pisani for providing useful information on the underground data, Francesca Caponi for the comments and the information concerning the legal and fiscal aspects involved in the calibration, and Glenn Williams for the research assistance. Finally, we thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments on this and on earlier versions of the paper. Chiarini acknowledges financial support from the Ateneo Research fund of the University of Rome, La Sapienza, Dinamiche dell'integrazione europea e scelta di politica economica. All errors are ours. Correspondence to: F. Busato     

Do inward looking trade policies affect poverty and income inequality? Evidence from Indonesia's recent wave of rising protectionism

Unlike previous studies which often focus on trade liberalisation, this paper examines the impact of protectionism in the form of import tariffs and mineral export taxes on rural and urban poverty and income inequality for the first time. Using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model on Indonesia, mineral export taxes were found to adversely affect urban and rural poverty but income inequality hardly changed as the decline in income in the higher income group is not significantly different to the decline in low income groups. However, if smelters for mineral ore are developed, then there is not only a fall in poverty, more so for the rural than urban, but there is some decline in income inequality. On the other hand, although the current imposed import tariffs do not affect poverty or income inequality, any further increases from the current low average MFN applied rates, will see a rise in rural and urban poverty and income inequality. By and large, any small improvements in the trade balance brought upon by the mineral tax and import tariffs are more than outweighed by the substantial decline in real household consumption expenditure due to falls in employment and wages, thereby leading to a fall in GDP growth.     

Climate Policies and Induced Technological Change: Which to Choose, the Carrot or the Stick?

Policies to reduce emissions of greenhousegases such as CO₂, will affect the rate andpattern of technological change in alternativeenergy supply and other production processes.Imperfections in markets for non-pollutingtechnologies imply that a decentralised economydoes not deliver a socially optimal outcome,and this could justify policy interventionssuch as subsidies. This paper considers thewelfare effects of technology subsidies as partof a carbon abatement policy package. We arguethat the presence of spillovers in alternativeenergy technologies does not necessarily implythat subsidy policies are welfare improving. Weillustrate this point in the context of ageneral equilibrium model with two forms ofcarbon-free energy, an existing alternative energy which is a substitute for carbon-basedfuels, and new vintage energy which providesa carbon-free replacement for existing energyservices. Subsidisation of alternative energyon the grounds of spillover effects can bewelfare-worsening if it crowds-out new vintagetechnologies.     

Energy Taxes in the Netherlands: What are the Dividends?

In this paper the environmental and economic effects of the introduction of a unilateral energy tax in the Netherlands are analysed using an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model. The effects of a small user energy tax and a general energy tax are compared, while taking into account different tax recycling mechanisms. The model contains a great level of detail with respect to emissions and environmental indicators (greenhouse effect, acidification, eutrophication and waste), which is helpful for assessing environmental quality. The results show that the introduction of a small environmental tax reform not only improves the environment but also raises non-environmental welfare, which is due to an improvement of the efficiency of the tax structure.     

Market-based systems for reducing chemical use in agriculture in the United States

This study uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the U.S. economy to estimate the economic effects of agricultural fertilizer and pesticide input reductions on individual farm sectors, and on the economy as a whole. The costs of reducing agricultural chemicals using a market-based approach and a command-and-control approach are compared. The real cost to society of restrictng fertilizer and pesticide use by 20-percent across all uses is estimated to be $2.3 billion. A market-based approach that would provide incentives to reduce chemical use in the most cost efficient manner would be about 10-percent less costly.We would like to thank Greg Alward, Norman Bakka, Eldon Ball, Ken Hanson, Valerie Personick, and Mark Planning for supplying data.