TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sinn,Hans-Werner
TI  - Public Policies against Global Warming
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13454
PY  - 2007
Y2  - September 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13454
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13454.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Hans-Werner Sinn
Ifo Institute -
Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
at University of Munich
Poschingerstr. 5
81679 Munich
GERMANY
Tel: 49-89-21802748
Fax: 49-89-397303;49-89-8506434 (home)
E-Mail: sinn@ifo.de
AB  - Judged by the principle of intertemporal Pareto optimality, insecure property rights and the greenhouse effect both imply overly rapid extraction of fossil carbon resources. A gradual expansion of demand-reducing public policies -- such as increasing ad-valorem taxes on carbon consumption or increasing subsidies for replacement technologies -- may exacerbate the problem as it gives resource owners the incentive to avoid future price reductions by anticipating their sales. Useful policies instead involve sequestration, afforestation, stabilization of property rights and emissions trading. Among the public finance measures, constant unit carbon taxes and source taxes on capital income for resource owners stand out.
ER  -