In a dynamic general equilibrium model we explictly consider the relationship between the product attributes 'durability' and 'recyclability'. Both efficiency and sustainability aspects are taken into account. It turns out (a) that durability may be inefficient even in a perfectly competitive...

Under the assumption of imperfect competition in a durable good industry, the present paper investigates the efficient regulation of solid waste which causes environmental damage at the end of the product's life. It turns out that the second-best waste tax falls short of the marginal...

Environmental economics passed its age of infancy. It grew rapidly over the last decades and established itself as a discipline based on the powerful economic paradigm and reaching beyond it to capture important economy-environment interactions. The view offered here on the future of...

This paper deals with two different types of irreversibility: Pollution irreversibility occurs if the stock of pollution cannot be reduced (any more) by nature's assimilative capacity; characteristics irreversibility occurs when some characteristic of the environmental resource is irreversibly...

A small open economy produces a consumer good along with green and black energy and imports fossil fuel for black-energy production at an uncertain world market price. Efficient risk management requires curbing fuel consumption, and hence carbon emissions, when consumers are prudent. Moreover,...

We study the incidence of carbon-reduction and green-energy promotion policies in a general equilibrium small open economy that depends on imports of fossil fuels. The focus is on mixed policies that are either price based (emissions taxes and producer price subsidies for green energy) or...

The first part of the paper focusses on the implications of optimal intertemporal pollution control under alternative hypotheses about the assimilative capacity of environmental resources. Then it is shown how the optimal intertemporal allocation could be achieved by an emission tax policy. As...