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Environmental prices, uncertainty, and learning

Dietz, Simon ORCID: 0000-0001-5002-018X and Fankhauser, Samuel ORCID: 0000-0003-2100-7888 (2010) Environmental prices, uncertainty, and learning. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 26 (2). pp. 270-284. ISSN 0266-903X

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Identification Number: 10.1093/oxrep/grq005

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for putting a shadow price on the environment to guide public policy and incentivize private behaviour. In practice, setting that price can be extremely difficult as uncertainties abound. There is often uncertainty not just about individual parameters but about the structure of the problem and how to model it. A further complication is the second-best nature of real environmental policy-making. In this paper, we propose some practical steps for setting prices in the face of these difficulties, drawing on the example of climate change. We consider how to determine the overall target for environmental protection, how to set shadow prices to deliver that target, and how we can learn from the performance of policies to revise targets and prices. Perhaps most significantly, we suggest that estimates of the marginal cost of environmental protection, rather than the marginal benefit, will often provide the more consistent and robust prices for achieving targets.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information: © 2010 The Authors
Divisions: Geography & Environment
Grantham Research Institute
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
JEL classification: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q51 - Valuation of Environmental Effects
Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q52 - Pollution Control Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q54 - Climate; Natural Disasters
Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q58 - Government Policy
Date Deposited: 31 Jan 2011 14:01
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 22:52
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/31905

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