This paper provides a review of the literature on competitiveness and leakage concerns associated with differentiated climate abatement commitments among countries. The literature reviewed is not exhausted, but it is sufficient to provide a balanced view of both academics and policy circles....

Two decades have passed since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 launched a grand experiment in market-based environmental policy: the SO2 cap-and-trade system. That system performed well but created four striking ironies. First, by creating this system to reduce SO2 emissions to curb acid...

This paper presents the first empirical test of the green paradox hypothesis, according to which well-intended but imperfectly implemented policies may lead to detrimental environmental outcomes due to supply side responses. We use the introduction of the Acid Rain Program in the U.S. as a case...

When it comes to environmental quality preferences, it is popularly believed that Democrats (and more generally, liberals) are green while Republicans (conservatives) are brown. Does empirical evidence support this popular belief? We test the hypothesis that regional political identification...

Despite growing scientific evidence that passing a 2êC temperature increase may trigger tipping points in climate dynamics, most Integrated Assessment Models (IAM) based on Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) with smooth quadratic damage functions are unable to account for the possibility of strong...

We investigate the effectiveness of policies in favor of innovation in renewable energy under different levels of competition. Using information regarding renewable energy policies, product market regulation and high-quality green patents for OECD countries since the late 1970s, we develop a...