Nonpoint Source Pollution Taxes and Excessive Tax Burden

If a regulator is unable to measure firms’ individual emissions, an ambient tax can be used to achieve the socially desired level of pollution. With this tax, each firm pays a unit tax on aggregate emissions. In order for the tax to be effective, firms must recognize that their decisions affect aggregate emissions. When firms behave strategically with respect to the tax-setting regulator, under plausible circumstances their tax burden is lower under an ambient tax, relative to the tax which charges firms on the basis of individual emissions. Firms may prefer the case where the regulator is unable to observe individual firm emissions, even if this asymmetric information causes the regulator to tax each firm on the basis of aggregate emissions.     

The environmental Kuznets curve after 25 years

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) has been the dominant approach among economists to modeling aggregate pollution emissions and ambient concentrations over the last quarter century. Despite this, the EKC was criticized almost from the start and decomposition approaches have been more popular in other disciplines working on global climate change. More recently, convergence approaches to modeling emissions have become popular. This paper reviews the history of the EKC and alternative approaches. Applying an approach that synthesizes the EKC and convergence approaches, I show that convergence is important for explaining both pollution emissions and concentrations. On the other hand, economic growth has a strong positive effect on carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but weaker effects on non-industrial GHG emissions and concentrations of particulates. Negative time effects are important for sulfur and industrial and non-industrial GHG emissions. Even for particulate concentrations, economic growth only reduces pollution at very high income levels. Future research should focus on developing and testing alternative theoretical models and investigating the non-growth drivers of pollution reduction.     

The Effects of Emission Permits on Growth and the Environment

We develop an overlapping generations model of growth and the environment in which industrial firms produce environmentally harmful emissions. A government controls the emissions by assigning emission quotas to firms, and permits could be issued and freely traded as financial instruments across firms on the basis of the quotas. We show that an environmental policy that decreases an aggregate number of emission quotas could degenerate economic growth and lower environmental quality in the long run. We also show the implications of this result for environmental policy.     

Green Technology and Optimal Emissions Taxation

Unless an active environmental policy exists, firms have no incentive to engage in abatement or environmental R&D so policy design is of paramount importance. This design heavily depends on the way R&D spillovers operate. There are two distinct types of R&D spillover: output spillover and input spillover. An input spillover operates on the expenditure toward pollution reduction, whereas an output spillover manifests as the achieved abatement. Under optimal emissions taxation, significant differences arise due to this distinction, in particular, when the spillover operates on R&D inputs. In an oligopolistic setting, the result is higher R&D expenditure, but also higher aggregate emissions and, consequently, higher emissions taxes. By contrast, when spillovers occur in R&D output, there is a U‐shaped relationship between the optimal tax and the spillover, showing a trade‐off between the optimal tax rate and spillovers when these are low. In terms of the relative effectiveness of different R&D organization setups, combining emissions taxes with R&D cooperation, this paper shows that under low levels of R&D spillover R&D cooperation gives higher emissions reductions, whereas when spillovers are high this is not the case.     

不同类型环境规制下中国工业绿色转型问题研究

资源环境约束下,通过环境规制设计来激励绿色技术创新及推动工业绿色转型具有重要意义。但现有研究忽视了不同类型环境规制及不同地区不同类型环境规制的差异性,因而难以提出有针对性和差异化的规制政策,进而难以有效促进工业绿色转型。文章在区分不同类型及不同地区不同类型环境规制的基础上,运用动态面板模型检验了环境规制对工业绿色转型的非线性影响效应。研究结果表明：不同类型环境规制对工业绿色转型的影响存在异质性,命令控制型环境规制的非线性影响效应并不存在,但经济激励型环境规制与自愿意识型环境规制的增强,可明显提高绿色技术创新水平及促进工业绿色转型。东部地区命令控制型环境规制并未对绿色技术创新及工业绿色转型形成有效激励,但经济激励型环境规制与自愿意识型环境规制的正向促进效应明显。中西部地区命令控制型环境规制有着负向影响效应,经济激励型环境规制和自愿意识型环境规制对绿色技术创新和工业绿色转型的激励效应不明显。文章对于不同类型环境规制的衡量有利于未来进一步扩展和细分环境规制的类型,以深入探讨不同类型环境规制的协同效应;研究结论对科学设定环境规制强度和合理选择环境规制形式以激励绿色技术创新及推动工业绿色转型具有启示意义。     

Who should bear the administrative costs of an emissions tax?

All environmental policies involve costs of implementation and management that are distinct from pollution sources’ abatement costs. In practice, regulators and sources usually share these administrative costs. We examine theoretically an optimal policy consisting of an emissions tax and the distribution of administrative costs between the government and regulated sources of pollution. Our focus is on the optimal distribution of administrative costs between polluters and the government and the optimal level of the emissions tax in relation to marginal pollution damage. We demonstrate how the policy variables affect aggregate equilibrium administrative costs and show that these effects are generally indeterminate, as is the effect of the distribution of administrative costs on aggregate emissions. Consequently, the optimal sharing of administrative costs and whether the optimal emissions tax is higher or lower than marginal damage depend on specific contexts.     

陕西省工业行业碳排放实证研究

运用投入产出模型,首先测算了2002年、2007年及2012年陕西省工业品隐含碳排放量情况。结果发现,3个年份陕西省隐含碳排放量不断增加且呈现出较高的行业集中度,排名前5位的部门由高到低分别为石油化工业、煤石油开采业、金属制品业、非金属制品业及计算机设备制造业。随后,分析了2002年、2007年及2012年陕西省工业品隐含碳排放失衡度。结果表明,在国际贸易方面,上述3个年份陕西省均为隐含碳排放净出口方,说明陕西省为其它国家承担了能源环境负荷;在国内贸易方面,陕西省2002年和2007年为隐含碳排放的净调入方,而2012年变为净调出方,这主要是因为陕西省调出产品增幅较大造成的;在总贸易方面,陕西省隐含碳流动方向与国内贸易相同,这是由于陕西内贸规模远远大于其外贸规模。目前来看,较大的隐含碳流出虽然有利于陕西省经济增长,但所付出的环境代价却不容忽视。因此,陕西省需提高生产技术水平、实现产业结构优化升级与贸易结构低碳化协调发展。     

CO2 emissions, research and technology transfer in China

Although the economy of China has grown very strongly over the last few decades, this spectacular performance has come at the expense of rapid environmental deterioration. Amidst animated debate on the issue of global warming, this study attempts to explore the determinants of CO₂ emissions in China using aggregate data for more than half a century. Adopting an analytical framework that combines the environmental literature with modern endogenous growth theories, the results indicate that CO₂ emissions in China are negatively related to research intensity, technology transfer and the absorptive capacity of the economy to assimilate foreign technology. Our findings also indicate that more energy use, higher income and greater trade openness tend to cause more CO₂ emissions.     

环境规制对长江经济带工业绿色生产率的门槛效应

以碳排放和污染物排放作为非期望产出,采用全局超效率SBM模型测算1997-2015年长江经济带沿线11省市工业绿色全要素生产率,采用面板门槛模型分析环境规制强度对工业绿色生产率的门槛效应。实证结果表明：1997-2015年虽然长江经济带沿线省市工业绿色生产率均呈提升态势,但仅有2014-2015年的上海、2015年的江苏是有效率省份,且省市之间效率差距不断拉大;环境规制对长江经济带绿色生产率存在双重门槛效应,在低、中、高3种环境规制强度地区中,只有中等环境规制强度地区能够通过环境规制显著提升工业绿色生产率。基于此,提出应促进经济增长方式由粗放型转为集约型、提高云贵川湘四省环境规制强度、推动现有环境规制内容市场化转型等政策性建议,以不断提高长江经济带工业绿色生产率。     

Do Lax Environmental Regulations Attract Foreign Investment?

There has been considerable controversy over the empirical significance of the theoretically predicted pollution haven hypothesis. Generally, empirical papers have failed to find an effect on industrial location of weaker or stricter environmental regulations. In this paper we find confirmation of theoretical predictions. We present a statistical test of the impact of environmental regulations on the capital movement of polluting industries. The empirical study is conducted by examining foreign direct investment (FDI) of several US industries, representing industries with high pollution control costs (chemicals and primary metals) as well as industries with more modest pollution control costs (electrical and non-electrical machinery, transportation equipment, and food products). At issue is the effect of the laxity of environmental regulation on FDI. As laxity is not directly observed, we posit two equations, one for FDI determination and one for pollutant emissions, a variable positively correlated with the unobserved variable. We use aggregate national sulfur emissions as the pollutant. Using instruments for the unobserved variable, the statistical results show that the laxity of environmental regulations in a host country is a significant determinant of FDI from the US for heavily polluting industries and is insignificant for less polluting industries.     

产业升级视角下绿色信贷与环保财政政策协同效应研究

单一的绿色信贷政策或环保财政政策在促进环境治理、产业升级等方面存在局限性。因此，首先在阐述绿色信贷政策和财政政策作用机理的基础上，给出二者可能的政策协同渠道。然后，利用2007—2016年省际面板数据，考察绿色信贷与环保财政政策在促进产业升级方面是否存在协同效应，并对有可能增强二者协同效果的相关因素进行检验。结果表明：绿色信贷与环保财政政策存在显著协同效应，并且绿色信贷与税收政策的协同效果优于其与支出政策的协同效果，而金融发展水平能够显著促进绿色信贷与环保财政政策协同。此外，考察了政策协同与单位能耗及单位污染排放的关联性，得出了相似的结论。     

Climate Policy with Multiple Sources and Sinks of Greenhouse Gases

This paper studies how inclusion of many sources, sinks and reservoirs -- a comprehensive approach -- affects climate policy, compared with a control merely of CO₂. Two questions of particular importance arise in such an analysis. One is how to aggregate the emissions of different climate gases, and the other is how to include all relevant measures in the analysis. To aggregate gases properly, an intertemporal analysis should be carried out. To assure that all relevant measures are included, we suggest that certain measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases are specified explicitly and evaluated together with indirect measures, such as carbon charges. A numerical analysis based on an optimal control model indicates that direct measures may play an important role in the design of climate policy, especially for the control of the emissions of greenhouse gases other than CO₂. Similar to other studies of the time-path for abatement efforts, the bulk of abatement should be taken by the end of the planning period. This result is significantly strengthened if gases with short life-times in the atmosphere, such as methane, are subject to control.     

我国空气污染的区域发展趋势分析

工业化产生的环境污染,已经严重危及人们生活质量的提高。研究采用相关性分析和R/S分形方法,使用全国和东、中、西部地区1995-2011年期间的序列数据。首先,以能源消费总量为控制变量,对工业废水排放量、工业废气排放量、工业固体废物排放量与国内生产总值之间进行相关性分析,找出环境污染的主要成分是工业废气排放。然后,着重分析全国和东、中、西部地区工业废气排放量的R/S分形轨迹。实证结果表明:它们的Hurst指数均介于0和5之间,说明其工业废气排放量的未来变化呈负相关性,但它们的分维值却不同,全国和中部地区距1.5较近,说明两者的反持续性较东、西部地区弱,今后中部地区所面临的环境压力将增大,应成为重点监控对象。     

地区工业废气排放负担的差异及对策研究

工业废气的排放是造成大气污染和环境污染的重要原因,对各地区的气体污染物排放负担、工业生产贡献进行比较和模型分析,可以更加清晰地看出各地区气体污染物的负担差异,这种差异主要是由于各地区工业发展水平、产业结构及环境政策的差异造成的,据此,从提升清洁技术、调整产业结构、污染治理和污染源管理等方面,提出更为有效的环境保护政策与措施,更好地促进经济与环境和谐发展。     

Incomplete Enforcement of Pollution Regulation: Bargaining Power of Chinese Factories

Only a limited number of papers haveempirically examined the determinants of themonitoring and enforcement activities performedby the environmental regulator. Moreover, mostof these studies have taken place in thecontext of developed countries. In this paper,we empirically examine the determinants of theenforcement of pollution charges in China.More precisely, we seek to identify thecharacteristics which may give firms more orless bargaining power with local environmentalauthorities pertaining to the enforcement(collection) of pollution charges. Firms fromthe private sector appear to have lessbargaining power than state-owned enterprises.Firms facing an adverse financial situationalso appear to have more bargaining power.Finally, we also show that the higher thesocial impact of a firm's emissions (asmeasured by the presence of complaints), thesmaller the bargaining power of the firms withlocal environmental authorities.     

主体功能区划下的新型生态补偿措施:工业排放配额制

国家"十一五"规划中主体功能区划的提出,从开发保护的角度看,国土被划为开发类和保护类功能区,由于各自主体功能不同引发公平问题:保护类功能区为保证生态质量放弃大量工业发展机会,开发类功能区却同享经济发展成果与优质生态服务,应建立生态补偿机制。在借鉴以往生态补偿机制及总结国外生态补偿经验的基础上,较认同生态补偿的一种系统性且市场化程度更高的创新型方案—"工业排放配额制":通过企业间、区域间甚至国家间工业排放配额的公平分配及在市场上的自由交易,让那些为保护生态而放弃发展机会的低环境承载力区域得到补偿。     

Emission taxes vs. environmental standards under partial ownership arrangements

This paper analyzes two pollution control instruments, uniform taxes and absolute standards, when polluting firms engage in partial ownership arrangements (POAs). Specifically, we examine the case of a bilateral POA between competing firms in which both hold equity shares on each other's profits as silent investments. We show that taxes and standards are equally efficacious in affecting the firms' output decisions and pollution emissions. Compared to the social planner's solution, a bilateral POA results in suboptimal outcomes with lower industrial output and consumer surplus. Firm profits are higher and environmental quality improves (since emissions decline), but social welfare decreases. We compare the equilibrium results associated with two different types of POAs (bilateral vs. unilateral), and examine their differences in welfare implications for the choice of policy options between taxes and standards.     

外商直接投资对中国环境污染影响的再考察——基于外资来源和行业差异视角

基于中国城市统计年鉴数据和中国工业企业数据库,采用GMM估计实证检验了外商直接投资(FDI)对于中国环境污染的影响效应。研究结果表明,FDI对于不同污染物的影响效应存在巨大差别,FDI提高了工业废水排放,降低了工业二氧化硫排放。进一步分析表明,造成这种现象的原因是港澳台投资和外国投资的质量和行业分布差异。港澳台投资具有负面的环境绩效,而外国投资对中国的环境污染状况具有改善作用。利用中国工业企业数据库,统计分析不同行业的外商资本金构成情况,发现不同来源的FDI在行业间的分布情况存在差异。FDI的质量和行业分布差异,导致FDI对不同污染物产生不同的环境效应。论文为学者们关于FDI对中国环境影响的争论提供了一个合理的解释,也对中国的引资政策和环境治理具有一定的参考价值。     

On the potential economic costs of cutting carbon dioxide emissions in Portugal

The objective of this paper is to estimate the impact of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion activities on economic activity in Portugal. We find that energy consumption has a significant impact on macroeconomic activity. In fact, a 1 ton of oil equivalent permanent reduction in aggregate energy consumption reduces output in the long term by €6,340. More importantly, and since carbon dioxide emissions are linearly related to the amounts of fuel consumed, our results allow us to estimate the costs of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. We estimate that a uniform standard for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion activities would lead to a marginal abatement cost of €95.74 per ton of carbon dioxide. This is a first rough estimate of the potential economic costs of policies designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. At this level one may conclude that uniform, across the board reductions in carbon emissions would have a clear negative effect on economic activity. Hence, at the aggregate level there is clear evidence for a trade-off between economic performance and a reduction in carbon emissions. This opens the door to the investigation of the scope for policy to minimize the costs of environmental policy and regulation.     

Are CO2 Emission Levels Converging Among Industrial Countries?

Time paths of carbon dioxide emissions intwenty-one industrial countries are examinedfrom 1960–1997 to test for stochastic andconditional convergence. Both panel unit roottests and cross-section regressions areperformed. Overall, we find significantevidence that CO₂ emissions haveconverged.