Coase, Hotelling and Pigou: The Incidence of a Carbon Tax and CO₂ Emissions

Geoffrey Heal and Wolfram Schlenker

No 26086, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We use field-level cost estimates of all oil and natural gas fields to highlight dynamic aspects of a global carbon tax. Some of the initial reduction in consumption will be offset through higher consumption later on. Only high-cost reserves will be priced out of the market, e.g., at 200 dollars per ton of CO₂ cumulative emissions decrease by 4%. The tax incidence initially falls on consumers under a constant tax but eventually becomes negative as the lifetime of the resources is extended. An increasing tax over time reduces the initial incidence on consumers.

JEL-codes: Q41 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
Note: EEE
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