Status effects and environmental externalities
Status effects and environmental externalities
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现状影响和环境外部性
DOI：
10.1016/0921-8009(95)00076-3
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发表时间：
1996
影响因子：
7
通讯作者：
R. Howarth
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
R. Howarth
本文研究了静态的竞争性经济，其中消费品的生产会产生污染，对人类福利产生不利影响。偏好是根据消费、休闲、污染和经济状况来定义的。每个人的地位随着自己的消费而提高，但随着社会的平均消费而降低。要实现帕累托有效的资源配置，需要征收消费税来抵消为追求地位提高而过度消费的激励。与标准处方相反，有效的污染税通常超过个人为减少污染支付的边际意愿之和。当偏好被修改以纳入对他人福祉的利他关怀时，这些发现仍然不会改变。然而，利他主义表明政府干预在实现个人之间理想的（即帕累托效率）福利分配方面具有潜在作用。
This paper examines a static, competitive economy where the production of a consumption good generates pollution that adversely affects human welfare. Preferences are defined over consumption, leisure, pollution, and economic status. Each person's status increases with her own consumption, but decreases with the average consumption of society. The achievement of a Pareto efficient resource allocation requires a consumption tax to offset the incentive to overconsume in the pursuit of enhanced status. In contrast with standard prescriptions, the efficient pollution tax generally exceeds the sum of individuals' marginal willingness to pay for pollution abatement. These findings remain unaltered when preferences are modified to incorporate altruistic concern for others' well-being. Altruism, however, suggests a potential role for government intervention to achieve a desirable (i.e., Pareto efficient) distribution of welfare between individuals.