Population under a cap on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Arbeitspapier

A cap on greenhouse gas emissions makes total emissions a fixed common-property resource. Population increases under a cap are therefore self-limiting: a population increase raises labor and reduces emissions per unit of labor, which lowers incomes and fertility. Because a marginal birth under a cap lowers all incomes, a cap induces a negative population externality. The externality is substantial in calibrations, about 20 percent of income in steady state and 5 percent of income immediately after imposition, or more, per child. Similarly, the optimal population may be one-quarter of the natural population in steady state.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 3046

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Taxation and Subsidies: Efficiency; Optimal Taxation ; Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies ; Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity: General ; Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
• Subject: population externality ; Pigovian tax ; emissions cap ; endogenous fertility ; economic growth ; optimal population ; calibrated optimal child tax ; Klimaschutz ; Internalisierung externer Effekte ; Treibhausgas ; Umweltauflage ; Bevölkerungsökonomie ; Fruchtbarkeit ; Internalisierung externer Effekte ; Steady-State-Wachstum ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bohn, Henning ; Stuart, Charles
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/38939
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:46 AM CET