Policy diffusion refers to the process by which a political innovation – like the introduction of a novel emission tax – disseminates over time among countries. In order to analyze this issue from an economic point of view we develop a simple two-country-model of the taxation of emissions in...

Strategic environmental policy games are usually based on simultaneous decision making and reach the conclusion that the policy choices are strategic substitutes. Empirical evidence, however, shows that the introduction of a regulatory instrument usually follows a consecutive pattern that is...

Recent political discussions about the possible advantages of first-mover behaviour in terms of environmental policy again called attention to the well-established controversy about the effects of environmental regulation on international competitiveness. Conventional theory claims that the...

We incorporate the process of policy diffusion (i.e. the uncoordinated dissemination of policies among countries) into a probabilistic two-country-model of strategic environmental policy. Contrary to the usual setting with simultaneous decision making we consider the impact of sequential...

In dealing with a transnational pollutant-emitting duopoly welfare-maximising policy makers face two negative externalities: imperfect competition and unpriced emissions. Strategic environmental policy models show that these externalities involve a trade-off between reducing pollution and...

This paper critically analyses the voluntary agreement of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) which is intended to ensure a significant reduction of average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars. It concludes that the voluntary agreement is far from being an adequate...

Der Konflikt zwischen Ökologie und Ökonomie wird dadurch unnötig verschärft, daß wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Prinzipien und Erkenntnisse bei der Gestaltung einer ökonomisch rationalen Umweltpolitik nur unzureichend berücksichtigt werden. Die Ziele der Umweltpolitik werden von der Politik...