Incentives for Green and Low-Carbon Technological Innovation of Enterprises Under Environmental Regulation: From the Perspective of Evolutionary Game

Encouraging enterprises to adopt green and low-carbon technological innovation is an important measure to cope with climate change and achieve low-carbon economic development. As the main stakeholders of green and low-carbon technological innovation of enterprises, what measures should the government and the public take to encourage green and low-carbon technological innovation of enterprises has become one of the focuses of research. This study constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model among the government, the public, and enterprises and then obtains the evolutionary stability strategy by analyzing the replication dynamic equation of each subject. Numerical simulation is made on the evolution path of the game under different enforcement intensities of environmental regulation means. The result shows that pollution tax, low-carbon technology innovation subsidy, and environmental protection publicity and guidance are three environmental regulation means to effectively stimulate enterprises’ green and low-carbon technology innovation. And moderate pollution tax, low-intensity publicity of public environmental protection, and high innovation incentive compensation have the highest incentive efficiency for enterprises’ green and low-carbon technological innovation. Targeted suggestions for promoting green and low-carbon technological innovation of enterprises are put forward in the end.

Revisiting the Conflicts between ‘Environmental Taxes vs Standard' in the Context of International Trade

The present paper throws light on the famous “tax versus standard” debate in the sphere of environmental economics by using general equilibrium framework and tries to examine which of the two, i.e., tax or standard is the better way to deal with pollution. It has done so in the presence of a waste recycling sector which is the unique feature of it and has shown the impact of tax and standard separately on different polluting and non-polluting sectors of the economy. The study has developed a unique as well as an interesting result that in the presence of a waste recycling sector in the economy, both pollution tax and environmental standard have the same impact.

Refunding Emissions Taxes: The Case For A Three-Part Policy

This paper examines theoretically whether by combining both output-based refunding and abatement expenditure-based refunding, it is possible to limit the negative consequences that a pollution tax implies for a polluting industry. We show that this is indeed the case by using a three-part policy where emissions are subject to a fee and where output and abatement expenditures are subsidized. When the industry is homogenous, it is possible to replicate the standard emission tax outcome by inducing a polluting firm to choose the production and emission levels obtained under any emission tax, without departing from budget balance. By construction, any polluter earns strictly more than under the standard tax alone without rebate, making this proposal more acceptable to the industry. When firms are heterogeneous, the refunding policy needed to replicate the standard emission tax outcome is personalized in the sense that at least the output subsidy should be type dependent and it is strictly preferred only from the industry’s point of view to a standard environmental tax. We also explore the implications of uniform three-part refunding policies for a heterogeneous industry.

Why Is Pollution from US Manufacturing Declining? The Roles of Environmental Regulation, Productivity, and Trade

Between 1990 and 2008, air pollution emissions from US manufacturing fell by 60 percent despite a substantial increase in manufacturing output. We show that these emissions reductions are primarily driven by within-product changes in emissions intensity rather than changes in output or in the composition of products produced. We then develop and estimate a quantitative model linking trade with the environment to better understand the economic forces driving these changes. Our estimates suggest that the implicit pollution tax that manufacturers face doubled between 1990 and 2008. These changes in environmental regulation, rather than changes in productivity and trade, account for most of the emissions reductions. (JEL F18, H23, L60, Q52, Q53, Q56, Q58)