International Environmental Agreements under Uncertainty: Does the Veil of Uncertainty Help?

Michael Finus () and Pedro Pintassilgo ()
Additional contact information
Pedro Pintassilgo: CIEO - Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, Postal: CIEO, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal, http://www.cieo.pt

No 2010-7, Spatial and Organizational Dynamics Discussion Papers from CIEO-Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of Algarve

Abstract: Na and Shin (1998) showed that the veil of uncertainty can be conducive to the success of self-enforcing international environmental agreements. Later papers confirmed this result. In the light of intensified research efforts worldwide to reduce uncertainty about the environmental impact of emissions and the cost of reducing them, the result is intriguing. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we analyze whether the result carries over to a more general setting without restriction on the number of players and which considers not only no and full learning but also partial learning, that is, three different scenarios of uncertainty dissipation. Second, we test whether the result also holds if there is uncertainty about abatement costs instead of uncertainty about the benefits from global abatement. Third, we propose a transfer scheme that mitigates the possible negative effect of learning and which may even transform it into a positive effect.

Keywords: transnational cooperation; self-enforcing international environmental agreements; uncertainty; learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 D62 D81 H41 Q20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2010-10-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-gth
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: International environmental agreements under uncertainty: does the 'veil of uncertainty' help? (2012)
Working Paper: International Environmental Agreements under Uncertainty: Does the Veil of Uncertainty Help? (2010)
Working Paper: International Environmental Agreements under Uncertainty: Does the Veil of Uncertainty Help? (2010)
Working Paper: International Environmental Agreements under Uncertainty: Does the Veil of Uncertainty Help? (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:cieodp:2010_007

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