The paper1 discusses the determination of the social cost of carbon (SCC) using the PAGE2002 model used in the Stern Review. The SCC depends sensitively on assumptions about future economic development, the range and likelihood of economic and social damage arising from climate change at future...

The European Directive on the EU ETS allows governments to auction up to 10% of the allowances issued in Phase II 2008-2012, without constraints specified thereafter. This paper reviews and extends the long-standing debate about auctioning, in which economists have generally supported and...

The same fuels are taxed at widely different rates in different countries while different fuels are taxed at widely different rates within and across countries. Coal, oil and gas are all used to generate electricity, but are subject to very different tax or subsidy regimes. This paper considers...

We present a model of altruistically-minded-yet rational-players contributing to a public good. A key feature is the tension between altruism and "crowding-out" effects (players' efforts are strategic substitutes). We find that more altruistic behaviour can raise or reduce welfare, depending on...

The six Persian Gulf monarchies are home to some of the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves, and also some of the cheapest energy prices and highest per-capita consumption. Government subsidies based on socio-political objectives have contributed to regime longevity, but they have also...

This paper examines the impact of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) on equilibrium emissions, output, price, market concentration, and profits in a generalized Cournot model. We develop formulae for the number of emissions permits that have to be freely allocated to firms to neutralize the...

This paper identifies neighbourhood effects in consumption using the randomized nature of the Progresa programme. Recent studies establish that the programme affects the consumption of both eligible and neighbouring ineligible households but the underlying mechanism of the spillovers is not...

CO2 emission certificates internalise effects of fossil fuel consumption on global climate and sea levels. If they are only implemented in some countries, then their effectiveness is limited; Consumption, production and investment decisions do not reach the optimal allocation, production with...

To meet its Kyoto requirements, the EU will establish an internal market for carbon dioxide allowances from 2005, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). National governments are to allocate most of these allowances for free. The analysis shows that as a result the net value of both a typical...

In this paper, which forms a chapter in the forthcoming Book “Delivering a Low Carbon Electricity System: Technologies, Economics and Policy”2, Grubb and Newbery examine how carbon for electricity generation should be priced. They begin by suggesting that it is not clear what the correct...