Environmental tax reform and endogenous growth

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bovenberg, AL; deMooij, RA
• 署名单位: Tilburg University; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• 发表日期: 1997
• 页码: 207-237
• 关键词: environmental externalities; Economic growth; Double dividend; Second best; Pollution taxes

摘要

This paper explores how an environmental tax reform impacts pollution, economic growth and welfare in an endogenous growth model with pre-existing tax distortions. We find that a shift in the tax mix away from output taxes towards pollution taxes may raise economic growth through two channels. The first channel is an environmental production externality, which determines the positive effect of lower aggregate pollution on the productivity of capital. The second channel is a shift in the tax burden away from the net return on investment towards profits. The paper also shows that the optimal tax on pollution may exceed its Pigovian level if tax-shifting towards profits is large and production externalities are important.