Imperfect Competition, Emissions Tax and the Porter Hypothesis

Flavio Menezes and Jorge Pereira

Chapter 3 in Green Innovation and Industrial Organization, 2026, pp 51-76 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: This chapter investigates the conditions under which the design of an emissions tax can align social and private interests. Our contribution is to determine the general conditions for firms’ profits and social welfare to be higher under the implementation of an emissions tax than under no tax. We consider n firms producing a homogeneous product and competing over supply schedules, which covers a continuum of imperfect competition equilibria from Bertrand to Cournot. We show that, as competition intensifies, the pass-through of the tax to consumers increases, to a point where the price rises more than offsets the net result of the investment outlay. Our analysis provides new insights into the tradeoff between environmental policy, market competition and the so-called “win-win” outcome for firms and society.

Keywords: Green Innovation; Industrial Organization; R&D Smoothing; Emissions Tax; Porter Hypothesis; Corporate Social Responsibility; Public Eco-Firm; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); Environmental Taxes; Voluntary Agreements; Mandatory Regulation; Green Consumers; Green R&D Organization; Environmental Regulation; Sustainable Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F18 L16 L51 Q5 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Working Paper: Imperfect competition, emissions tax and the Porter hypothesis (2023)
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