Climate policy with Bentham–Rawls preferences

Richard Tol

Economics Letters, 2013, vol. 118, issue 3, 424-428

Abstract: A Bentham–Rawls welfare function is the weighted sum of the net present welfare (Bentham) and the welfare of the worst-off generation (Rawls). If utility is non-decreasing over time, optimal climate policy is more stringent in the near-term under the Bentham criterion than under the Bentham–Rawls criterion. If utility is decreasing, Bentham–Rawls abatement is higher. If there is a chance of decreasing utility, Bentham–Rawls optimal climate policy is probably less stringent than Bentham policy.

Keywords: Climate policy; Social cost of carbon; Bentham–Rawls criterion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:118:y:2013:i:3:p:424-428

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.12.006

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