The outcome of the 15th conference of the Parties to the UNFCC showed a shift from a top-down approach with a collective target favoring environmental objectives to a bottom-up accord favoring political feasibility. There is no meaningful binding agreement in sight, also because the global...

This paper analyzes the impact of vertical linkages on the international effects of environmental policy. With vertical linkages, stricter environmental policy at home indirectly reduces pollution in the rest of the world. This spillback effect can reinforce the free-rider problem that arises...

Has the Kyoto Protocol induced carbon leakage? We conduct the first empirical ex post evaluation of the protocol. We derive a theoretical gravity equation for the carbon dioxide content of trade, which accounts for intermediate inputs, both domestic and imported. The structure of our new panel...

This paper provides a review of the literature on competitiveness and leakage concerns associated with differentiated climate abatement commitments among countries. The literature reviewed is not exhausted, but it is sufficient to provide a balanced view of both academics and policy circles....

Well-intended policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions may have unintended undesirable consequences. Recently, a large literature has emerged showing that such a 'green paradox' may occur in response to particular policies. We review this literature and identify four different...

Estimates of the carbon leakage resulting from sub-global climate policies tend to be lower when using economy-wide general equilibrium models than what technology-specific and bottom-up models suggest. In order to test whether this difference is due to excessive sectoral aggregation, I exploit...