Can subsidies rather than pollution taxes break the trade-off between economic output and environmental protection?

A-Tier
Journal: Energy Economics
Year: 2021
Volume: 95
Issue: C

Authors (3)

Renström, Thomas I. (not in RePEc) Spataro, Luca (Università degli Studi di Pisa) Marsiliani, Laura (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We build a general equilibrium dynamic model in which individual investors are endowed with “warm-glow” preferences à la Andreoni (1990) so that they feel partly responsible for the pollution content of their portfolio. Through investors’ portfolio choice, firms are induced to engage in costly abatement activities, given that higher pollution also implies a higher cost of capital. In this scenario, we characterize the equilibrium of the economy and investigate, through a fiscal reform analysis, the effects of such tax instruments on the equilibrium scale of the economy, per-capita consumption, pollution abatement and “pollution premium”. We show that an increase of the pollution tax, while reducing pollution, also depresses consumption, the scale of the economy and the pollution premium. On the contrary, an increase of subsidies on abatement activity increases the scale of the economy and can also decrease pollution and the pollution premium and increase per-capita consumption. All our results have relevant testable implications, which we leave for future empirical research.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:eneeco:v:95:y:2021:i:c:s0140988320304242
Journal Field
Energy
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29