This paper studies the impact of speed limits on local air pollution, using a series of date specific speed limit reductions in Oslo over the 2004-2015 period. We find that lowering the speed limit from 80 to 60 km/h reduces travel speed by 5.8 km/h, but we find no effect on local air pollution....

This paper studies the impact of speed limits on local air pollution using a series of datespecific speed limit reductions in Oslo over the 2004-2011 period. We find that lowering the speed limit from 80 to 60 km/h reduces travel speed by 5.8 km/h. However, we find no evidence of reduced air...

In 2007, the Norwegian government reformed the vehicle registration tax in order to reduce the CO2 emissions intensity of the new car fleet by incentivizing the purchase of more fuel efficient cars. This paper identifies the impact of the new tax structure on four dimensions: 1) the average CO2...

In 2007, the Norwegian government reformed the vehicle registration tax in order to reduce the carbon intensity of the new car fleet by incentivizing the purchase of more fuel efficient cars. This paper identifies the impact of the new tax structure on three main dimensions: (i) the average CO2...

The European Union's Emissions Trading System is the largest system in the world for trade in greenhouse gases. It used to be a cap-and-trade scheme with a fixed supply of permits. However, a recent reform of the system "punctures the waterbed" by making the supply of permits endogenous. The...

The European Union’s Emissions Trading System, EU ETS, has been reformed, shifting the system from a fixed-cap system into a system with an endogenous supply of permits. This paper discusses how to handle the scheme in project appraisal. The focus is on a few relatively straightforward...

This paper examines the application of quasi-experimental methods in environmental economics. We begin with two observations: (i) standard quasi-experimental methods, first applied in other microeconomic fields, typically assume unit-level treatments that do not spill over across units; (ii)...

The Norwegian high-level Green Tax Commission proposes inter alia cost-effective taxes on red meat and increased toll charges on road traffic to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution, respectively. Implementation requires support by the public, but the acceptance of such taxes...