Evolution of the Global Distribution of Carbon Dioxide: A Finite Mixture Analysis

Michele Battisti, Michael S. Delgado and Christopher Parmeter
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Michael S. Delgado: Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

No 2013-10, Working Papers from University of Miami, Department of Economics

Abstract: Economists and environmental policymakers have recently begun advocating a bottom-up approach to climate change mitigation, focusing on reduction targets for groups of nations, rather than large scale global policies. We advance this discussion by taking a quantitative perspective, focusing on econometric identification of groups of countries that have statistically similar distributions of carbon emissions using a broad range of finite mixture models. Nearly all of our results yield a consistent pattern: after 1980, there are two distinct emissions distributions, and that these distributions continue to evolve over time. We provide a rigorous analysis of these distributional differences along several important dimensions: polarization, mobility, and volatility. We discuss how this robust quantitative evidence may aid policymakers in forging a heterogeneous carbon abatement policy.

Keywords: Carbon emissions; Emissions groups; Heterogeneity; Abatement policy; Finite mixture models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C30 C38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2013-05-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-res
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Forthcoming (Under Review)

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https://www.herbert.miami.edu/_assets/files/repec/WP2103-10.pdf First version, 2013 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Evolution of the global distribution of carbon dioxide: A finite mixture analysis (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mia:wpaper:2013-10

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