Climate policy and competitiveness: Policy guidance and quantitative evidence

When considering adoption of a domestic climate change policy, politicians and the public frequently refer to concerns about competitiveness. Competitiveness in this context does not have a precise economic definition. In this article, we discuss possible ways to anchor the concept of competitiveness in economic analysis. This framework then serves as the basis of a systematic survey the literature on the quantitative impacts of unilateral climate change policy derived from the results of computable general equilibrium (or CGE) models. We provide empirical estimates of the magnitude of competitiveness effects that might be associated with the adoption of unilateral climate change policies and a meta-analysis of the key sensitivities displayed by the models as a guide to future research.