1,721,006 research outputs found
The signaling effect of gasoline taxes and its distributional implications
Get PDFThis paper proposes and tests a better defined interpretation of the different responses of gasoline demand to tax changes and to market-related price changes. Namely, the signaling effect of gasoline taxes is one that impacts on long-run consumer decisions in addition to the incentives provided by tax-inclusive gasoline prices. Our hypothesis is tested using a complete demand system augmented with information on gasoline taxes and fitted to household-level data from the 2006 to 2013 rounds of the US Consumer Expenditure survey. Information on gasoline taxes is found to be a significant determinant of household demand additional to tax-inclusive gasoline prices. The equity implications are examined by contrasting the incidence across income distribution of a simulated $0.22/gallon tax increase to that of a market-related price increase equal in size. The tax increase is clearly regressive, slightly more than the market-related price increase. However, regressivity is by no means a reason to give up gasoline taxes as an instrument for reducing gasoline consumption externalities. Their high effectiveness in reducing gasoline demand implies that small tax increases can substantially improve the environment while minimizing the related distributional effects. Also, gasoline taxes generate revenue that can be used to offset their regressivity
The impact of the EU emissions trading system on competitiveness and carbon leakage : the econometric evidence
No full textFirst published: 11 February 2020This paper carefully surveys the econometric literature that tests for competitiveness effects and related carbon leakage caused by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The results of this literature tell us that to date there is no evidence of the EU ETS having had widespread negative or positive effects on the competitiveness of regulated firms, nor is there evidence of significant carbon leakage. However, the paper also identifies three important caveats to this general conclusion. Firstly, the evidence we have still largely refers to the first two trading periods, namely Phases I (2005–2007) and II (2008–2012). Secondly, some heterogeneity of estimated effects is observed, but patterns, notably sectoral patterns, hardly emerge. Thirdly, very little explored is whether the EU ETS has had long‐term effects on the economy via investment leakage or firm dynamics. Further empirical studies investigating these long‐term effects are particularly desirable.EU LIFE Programme of the European Commission. Grant Number: GIC/IT/00005
The biochar system in the EU : the pieces are falling into place, but key policy questions remain
Get PDFThe biochar system presents itself as an exceptional negative emissions technology in that it can readily provide multiple public goods at relatively low cost, notably restoration of soil carbon and water conservation in addition to climate mitigation, as well as multiple private goods related to the use of biochar as a soil amendment and other possible uses. To realise this potential at scale, however, a holistic and coherent cross-sectoral policy approach is needed.
So far, the lack of an enabling and supportive policy framework at the EU level and, consequently, low demand for biochar as a soil amendment, has been the main barrier to widespread diffusion of the biochar system. Such framework is now under construction, but its final configuration is still undefined.
Financial reward of greenhouse gas removals from the atmosphere, as well as of soil carbon restoration, would likely propel the diffusion of the biochar system. While evidence on non-economic barriers to the uptake of the biochar system is scant, public acceptance is not of concern. Notably, the co-benefits of properly regulated biochar for soil amendment suggest that this product may well appeal to farmers, who however need to be trained.
Which policy instruments should be used to reward greenhouse gas removals produced by the biochar system and other negative emissions technologies, is a question that should be addressed soon. Setting specific targets for emission reductions and removals, rather than aggregate targets for net emissions, would help address this question as well as avert the risk of delaying either emission reductions or removals. Given the urgency of tackling climate change, opportunities for cost-effective greenhouse gas removals, such as those already offered by the biochar system, should be exploited without delay.The work leading to this policy brief was financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the INNOPATHS project, grant agreement No 730403
Differential demand response to gasoline taxes and gasoline prices in the U.S.
Get PDFAvailable online 22 February 2016.Is version of EUI RSCAS WP; 2014/54; Climate Policy Research Unit (CPRU).This paper offers new evidence concerning the difference in consumers’ reactions to changes in gasoline taxes relative to market-induced changes in gasoline prices. Using microdata from the 2007 to 2009 rounds of the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey, we estimate a complete system of demand augmented with information on gasoline excise taxes. By relying on a complete system of demand, we are able to estimate elasticities that take behavioral responses into account. Crucially, the model allows gasoline taxes to affect demand in two distinct ways: through relative prices and as long-run policy signals. Different increases in gasoline taxes are considered for simulation. A 13.2 ¢/gallon tax increase, corresponding to a $15/tCO2 carbon tax, is found to cause, in the long run, a reduction in gasoline demand that is about seven times as big as that induced by an equal market-induced price increase. The same measure of differential demand response is derived for tax increases different in size as well as by income quintile and by region. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of corrective taxation in the private transport sector
The EU ETS and its companion policies : any insight for China's ETS?
Get PDFThis paper analyses the role that companion policies have had in the reduction of emissions regulated by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the related policy interactions, with a view to identifying relevant insights for China's forthcoming Emissions Trading System (ETS). The investigation rests on: (a) the observation of the EU's and China's ETSs and policy mixes; (b) economic theory concerning companion policies and ETS design; and (c) empirical ex-post evidence from the EU ETS. Three main conclusions emerge from the analysis. First, China's ETS, while not imposing a fixed cap on emissions, will not be immune to waterbed effects of companion policies. Second, the European experience stresses the importance of making explicit the objectives pursued by companion policies, and of balancing policies for innovation and policies for adoption of low-carbon technologies. Third, in the presence of a major market surplus, only permanent adjustments to allowance supply can be effective in raising prices.The work leading to this study was co-financed by the EU LIFE Programme of the European Commission – Grant Agreement LIFE15 GIC/IT/000051 LIFE SIDE
The signaling effect of gasoline taxes and its distributional implications
Get PDFThis paper proposes and tests a better-defined interpretation of the different responses of
gasoline demand to tax changes and to market-related price changes. Namely, the signaling effect of gasoline taxes is one that impacts on long-run consumer decisions in addition
to the incentives provided by tax-inclusive gasoline prices. Our hypothesis is tested using
a complete demand system augmented with information on gasoline taxes and fitted to
household-level data from the 2006 to 2013 rounds of the US Consumer Expenditure survey. Information on gasoline taxes is found to be a significant determinant of household
demand additional to tax-inclusive gasoline prices. The equity implications are examined
by contrasting the incidence across income distribution of a simulated $0.22/gallon tax
increase to that of a market-related price increase equal in size. The tax increase is clearly
regressive, slightly more than the market-related price increase. However, regressivity is by
no means a reason to give up gasoline taxes as an instrument for reducing gasoline consumption externalities. Their high effectiveness in reducing gasoline demand implies that
small tax increases can substantially improve the environment while minimizing the related
distributional effects. Also, gasoline taxes generate revenue that can be used to offset their
regressivity
The future of renewable energy communities in the EU : an investigation at the time of the Clean Energy Package
Get PDFRenewable energy communities (RES communities) are a growing and extraordinarily multifaceted phenomenon which involves a range of possible activities around renewable energy (notably, production, supply, distribution, sharing and consumption) collectively carried out by citizens, often in partnership with small and medium enterprises and local public authorities. The Clean Energy Package (CEP) is expected to represent a turning point for the development and diffusion of RES communities in Europe, as for the first time both their very existence and their potential role in the energy transition receive legal recognition at the EU level. By 2021, all Member States will have to transpose the CEP’s Directives into national legislation, thus including the definition of an enabling framework that promotes RES communities. However, substantial room for manoeuvre is left to Member States in accomplishing the task. The present report analyses the phenomenon of RES communities in Europe and identifies plausible (qualitative) scenarios for their possible development over the next decade, at this very special time. It does so by carefully reviewing the socioeconomic literature on RES communities (Chapter 1), by carrying out three case studies of different types of RES communities (Chapter 2), and by analysing how the CEP provisions may be implemented by Member States and so affect the uptake of RES communities (Chapter 3)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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