Interactions Between State and Federal Climate Change Policies

Lawrence Goulder () and Robert Stavins
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Lawrence Goulder: Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center

No 09-027, Discussion Papers from Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Federal action addressing climate change is likely to emerge either through new legislation or via the U.S. EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act. The prospect of federal action raises important questions regarding the interconnections between federal efforts and state-level climate policy developments. In the presence of federal policies, to what extent will state efforts be cost-effective? How does the co-existence of state- and federal-level policies affect the ability of state efforts to achieve emissions reductions? This paper addresses these questions. We find that state-level policy in the presence of a federal policy can be beneficial or problematic, depending on the nature of the overlap between the two systems, the relative stringency of the efforts, and the types of policy instruments engaged. We evaluate a number of arguments that have been made to support state-level climate policy in the presence of federal policies, even when problematic interactions arise.

Keywords: Clean Air Act; climate change; EPA; emissions leakage; federalism; cap-and-trade; carbon tax; regualtion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H77 K32 L51 Q48 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-06
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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http://www-siepr.stanford.edu/repec/sip/09-027.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Interactions between State and Federal Climate Change Policies (2011)
Working Paper: Interactions between State and Federal Climate Change Policies (2010)
Working Paper: Interactions between State and Federal Climate Change Policies (2010)
Working Paper: Interactions between State and Federal Climate Change Policies (2010)
Working Paper: Interactions Between State and Federal Climate Change Policies (2010)
Working Paper: Interactions between State and Federal Climate Change Policies (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sip:dpaper:09-027

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