The ongoing debate concerning the ranking of taxes versus cap and trade for climate policy begins with \ps{Weitzman74} seminal slope-based criterion and concludes that taxes dominate quotas. We challenge this conclusion and the intuition behind it. Because technology shocks and pollution stocks...

We model a fishery with potential congestion; fishers obtain both public and private signals about the location where the fish stock is densest. We extend the literature by including both a larger parameter region and correlation between public and private signals. We analytically determine the...

We introduce a “smart” cap and trade system that eliminates the welfare costs of asymmetric information (“uncertainty”). This cap responds endogenously to technology or macroeconomic shocks, relying on the market price of certificates to aggregate information. It allows policy makers to...

Beliefs about the arrival time of a vaccine have a large effect on optimal social distancing in an SIR model, though the relationship is complex. A higher mean vaccine arrival time can increase or decrease optimal distancing depending on assumptions. We analytically demonstrate two channels that...

We introduce a “smart” cap and trade system that eliminates the welfare costs of asymmetric information (“uncertainty”). This cap responds endogenously to technology or macroeconomic shocks, relying on the market price of certificates to aggregate information. It allows policy makers to...

Currently living agents might have selfish reasons to undertake climate policy, because young agents benefit in the future from an improved climate, and policy affects the asset price. Previous models downplayed the first factor and assumed away the second. Self-interested incentives induce...