The European competition rules restrict governments’ opportunity to differentiate terms of energy accessibility among firms and industries. This easily runs counter with regional and industrial goals of national energy policies. Norway levies a tax on use of electricity, but exempts main...

Welfare analysis of energy taxes typically shows that systems with uniform rates perform better than differentiated systems. However, most western countries include some exemptions for their energy-intensive export industry, and hence, avoid this potential welfare gain. Böhringer and Rutherford...

Welfare analyses of energy taxes typically show that systems with uniform rates perform better than differentiated systems, especially if revenue increases can be recycled via cuts in more distortionary taxes. However, in the practical policy debates, the scope for efficiency gains is traded...

The market power of firms in intermediate good markets is found to generate a substantial welfare cost. Markup pricing of intermediate good firms contributes to increase the wedge between the marginal product of labor and the wage rate received by workers, as intermediate good firms add...

In this paper we analyze how knowledge spillovers influence the optimal timing of R&D policy. We find that the optimal R&D subsidy profile may be falling, increasing or constant. The time profile of the subsidy rates is crucially dependent on the elasticity of scale in R&D production, i.e. the...

This study shows that the second-best optimal difference between tax rates on goods that generate greenhouse gas emissions and non-polluting goods is equal to the quota price plus a Ramsey tax on the quota price when emission quotas are traded between governments and the price elasticity of...

Welfare analyses of energy taxes typically show that systems with uniform rates perform better than differentiated systems, especially if revenue can be recycled by cutting taxes that are more distortionary. However, in practical policy, efficiency gains must be traded off against industrial...

The European competition rules restrict governments' opportunity to differentiate terms of energy accessibility among firms and industries. This easily runs counter with regional and industrial goals of national energy policies. Norway levies a tax on use of electricity, but exempts main...

Welfare analyses of energy taxes typically show that systems with uniform rates perform better than differentiated systems. However, most western countries include some exemptions for their energy-intensive export industries and thereby avoid this potential welfare gain. Böhringer and...

We analyze how knowledge spillovers influence the optimal timing of R&D policy. Using numerical simulations we find that optimal subsidies to R&D may be rising over time even when the returns to knowledge is decreasing. The optimal time profile of the subsidies is determined by the elasticity of...