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On international equity weights and national decision making on climate change

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 11:04 authored by David Anthoff, Richard TolRichard Tol
Estimates of the marginal damage costs of carbon dioxide emissions require the aggregation of monetised impacts of climate change over people with different incomes and in different jurisdictions. Implicitly or explicitly, such estimates assume a social welfare function and hence a particular attitude towards equity and justice. We show that previous approaches to equity weighting are inappropriate from a national decision maker's point of view, because domestic impacts are not valued at domestic values. We propose four alternatives (sovereignty, altruism, good neighbour, and compensation) with different views on concern for and liability towards foreigners. The four alternatives imply radically different estimates of the social cost of carbon and hence the optimal intensity of climate policy.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

ISSN

0095-0696

Publisher

Elsevier

Issue

1

Volume

60

Page range

14-20

Department affiliated with

  • Economics Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-04-23

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