TY  - GEN
AB  - This paper considers first best allocations in an economy where a
consumption good is produced using labor. Production results in
pollution, which is a public bad. Pollution abatement can be achiedved
either by restricting poduction output or by using labor. We consider
how the first best allocation varies with polulation size. consumers are
unambiguously worse off when the population is larger. However,
surprisingly, there is no single optimal policy on how pollution and
labor should vary with population size. For standard models of
preferences and technology it might be desirable either to increase or
to reduce emissions and/or labor, depending on parameters. Despite such
ambiguity in the first best level of emissions, the Pigouvian tax wihich
implements the first best is a non-decreasing function of the population
size. We conclude that, since the comparative statics of the first best
are so ambiguous, sensible debate on environmental policy cannot proceed
without a careful determination of actual preferences and technology.
DA  - 1994
LA  - ger
PY  - 1994
SN  - 0931-6558
TI  - Population and environmental quality
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29098091
Y2  - 2024-11-22T13:03:41
ER  -