Coase Lecture—Taxes, Targets and the Social Cost of Carbon

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9727462
AutoresRobert S Pindyck (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, autor correspondente)
Ano2017
Volume84
Fascículo335
Páginas345-364
Data de publicação2017-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEconomica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ecca.12243
OpenAlexW2617987307
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas29

In environmental economics, the marginal external cost of emitting a pollutant determines the optimal abatement policy, which might take the form of an emissions tax. But the marginal external cost is often difficult to estimate. This is especially the case when it comes to climate change; estimates of the social cost of carbon (SCC) range from around $10 per metric ton to well over $200 per metric ton, and there has been little or no movement toward a consensus number. Partly as a result, rather than an SCC‐based carbon tax, climate policy has focused on a set of targets that would put limits on temperature increases or atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, which in turn imply targets for emission reductions. Economics, however, can tell us little about whether such targets are socially optimal. I discuss the trade‐off between taxes versus targets as the focus of policy, explain why it has been so difficult to estimate a marginal SCC, and suggest an approach to estimating an average SCC through the use of expert elicitation. I argue that such an approach could serve as the basis for a harmonized carbon tax

Carbon tax · Climate change · Climate policy · Coase theorem · Economics · Emissions trading · Greenhouse gas · Marginal abatement cost · Marginal cost · Marginal utility · Metric (unit) · Microeconomics · Operations management · Public economics · Range (aeronautics) · Set (abstract data type) · Social cost · Tax basis · Tax reform · Tonne · Transaction cost · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Computer Science · Ecology · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies