The Public Economics of the Environment
Agnar Sandmo
Abstract
The book is an application of the modern theory of public economics to central issues in the design of environmental policy. Ch. 1 reviews the basic issues in a simple partial equilibrium framework. In Ch. 2, the environment is incorporated in a general equilibrium framework, emphasizing the perspective on the environment as a public good and the use of taxes as a means of correcting market failure. Ch. 3 analyses policies that are alternatives to taxes, such as regulations and quotas, and Ch. 4 reviews alternative methods of assessing the social benefits from environmental policies. Ch. 5 set ... More
The book is an application of the modern theory of public economics to central issues in the design of environmental policy. Ch. 1 reviews the basic issues in a simple partial equilibrium framework. In Ch. 2, the environment is incorporated in a general equilibrium framework, emphasizing the perspective on the environment as a public good and the use of taxes as a means of correcting market failure. Ch. 3 analyses policies that are alternatives to taxes, such as regulations and quotas, and Ch. 4 reviews alternative methods of assessing the social benefits from environmental policies. Ch. 5 sets the design of environmental taxes in the framework of optimal tax theory and makes clear the need to see such taxes as parts of the overall tax system. Ch. 6 is concerned with various notions of the double dividend from green taxes and raises the issue of whether environmental taxes lower the marginal cost of public funds. Finally, Ch. 7 takes up international and political economy aspects of environmental policy.
Keywords:
environmental taxes,
externalities,
optimal taxation,
political economy,
public goods
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2000 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198297987 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 |
DOI:10.1093/019829798X.001.0001 |
