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Policy complementarity and the paradox of carbon pricing Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Michael Grubb, Alexandra Poncia, Paul Drummond, Karsten Neuhoff, Jean-Charles Hourcade
We present an economics framework appropriate to the exceptionally broad scope of the climate change problem. This considers that economic and social processes, particularly those involved in purposive transitions of energy technologies and systems, involve the interplay between three distinct domains of decision-making and associated actors. The first concerns small-scale and often short-term decision-making
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Greening the G7 economies Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Edward B Barbier
Despite some progress, the Group of 7 (G7) have yet to act collectively to foster a low-carbon transition of their economies. This paper outlines such a strategy, which would also encourage other economies to follow suit. This strategy has three elements: fossil fuel pricing reforms; recycling revenues to fund green innovation and to offset any adverse income or employment impacts; and developing the
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Job creation and deep decarbonization Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Kelly Sims Gallagher, Soyoung Oh
This paper explores whether economic viability is the key to achieve deep decarbonization or net zero emissions. The hypothesis tested is that popular support for decarbonization policies is conditional upon most people’s belief that their economic well-being will improve, or at least not suffer with these policies. While GDP growth is the typical metric for economic health, a more useful socio-economic
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Double dividend? Transnational initiatives and governance innovation for climate change and biodiversity Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Harriet Bulkeley, Michele Betsill, Anouk Fransen, Stacy VanDeveer
Growing recognition of the need to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together is leading to shifts in the global environmental governance landscape such that these two traditionally separate domains are increasingly interlinked. This process is taking place not at the level of the international policy regimes but rather through the work of transnational governance initiatives (TGIs) that
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Climate change, complexity, and policy design Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Pontus Braunerhjelm, Cameron Hepburn
The challenges of combatting climate change are unprecedented and now very urgent. Current approaches are not working fast enough. This paper, and this journal issue, conceive of the challenge as one of non-marginal structural and institutional change. Several different conceptual frameworks and pluralist theories are considered, emanating from complexity theory, economics, natural sciences, political
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Five myths about carbon pricing Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Gilbert E Metcalf
While carbon pricing, in general, and carbon taxes, in particular, are popular with economists, they are subject to considerable misunderstanding among policy-makers and the public. In this paper I consider and refute five myths about carnbon taxes: (i) that a carbon price will hurt economic growth; (ii) that carbon pricing will kill jobs; (iii) that a carbon tax and cap-and-trade programme have the
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How may solar geoengineering impact global prospects for climate change mitigation? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Katharine Ricke, Anthony Harding
As disruptions from climate change increase, so will the urgency to find shorter-term approaches to ameliorating its harms. This may include calls to implement solar geoengineering, an approach to cooling the planet by reflecting incoming sunlight back to space. While the exact effects of solar geoengineering are still highly uncertain, physical science to date suggests that it may be effective at
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Sensitive intervention points: a strategic approach to climate action Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Penny Mealy, Pete Barbrook-Johnson, Matthew C Ives, Sugandha Srivastav, Cameron Hepburn
While some countries are making progress reducing greenhouse gas emissions, few are progressing rapidly enough to be on track to reach net zero emissions by mid-century. The transition to net zero involves deep structural transformation of the global economy and its associated complex socio-technical systems. Here, we set out a conceptual framework to identify ‘sensitive intervention points’ (SIPs)
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How will climate change affect ambient air pollution and what can policy-makers do now? Lessons from India Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Avraham Ebenstein, Sangeeta Bansal, Sagnik Dey, Tanya Gupta, Kshitij Abhay Kakade, Avi Simhon
Air pollution is a growing concern in India, and its adverse health effects are well documented. Climate change is likely to exacerbate this problem by altering weather patterns and increasing the frequency and severity of extreme events. This paper examines the potential impact of climate change on ambient air pollution in India and its implications for policy design. Our analysis reveals that pollution
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Net zero electricity: the UK 2035 target Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Dieter Helm
The UK is, like its peers in the EU, just under 80% dependent on fossil fuels. This figure has come down just over 10% since the 1970s, a period when the UK had major energy-intensive industries, most of which are now gone. The government is committed to achieving net zero for the electricity sector by 2035 on the pathway to net zero for the whole economy by 2050.. The Labour opposition has set 2030
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Green bonds and carbon emissions Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Caroline Flammer
This paper examines the relationship between green bonds (that is, bonds whose proceeds are committed to financing green projects) and carbon emissions at the aggregate level. Using data for US states, I find that the issuance of $1,000 of green bonds per capita is associated with a subsequent decrease in state-level emissions by 0.9–1.4 per cent. I obtain similar magnitudes using cross-country data
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The wealthy as a barrier to tax reform Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Benjamin I Page, Jason Seawright
In the optimal design of tax reform proposals, and in decisions about when and how to recommend them, it is useful to take explicit account of issues of political feasibility. In the United States—and probably around the world—important political barriers work against the enactment of major progressive tax reforms. A close look at US poll and survey data indicates that opposition by the general public
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The messy boundary between pass-through and corporate taxation Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Wojciech Kopczuk
Businesses may be subject to either individual income taxes or entity-level taxes. Policy choices surrounding the boundary between these taxes can and do vary between countries and over time. I discuss the need for and implications of the existence of this boundary for behaviour, economic measurement, and policy.
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What is the average federal individual income tax rate on the wealthiest Americans? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Danny Yagan
I estimate the average federal individual income tax rate paid by America’s 400 wealthiest families, using a relatively comprehensive estimate of their Haig–Simons income: their change in wealth, plus US individual taxes. I do so using publicly available statistics from the IRS Statistics of Income Division, the Survey of Consumer Finances, and Forbes magazine from 1992 to 2020. This paper’s baseline
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Taxing the wealthy: the choice between wealth and capital income taxation Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Spencer Bastani, Daniel Waldenström
This paper analyses the relative merits of wealth and capital income taxes as instruments for taxing the rich. The main rationale for a wealth tax is to address the incompleteness of the tax code in taxing unrealized capital gains, which can be enormous and concentrated among the wealthy. However, by taxing presumed rather than actual returns, a wealth tax fails to address inequality among taxpayers
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Are capital gains the Achilles’ heel of taxing the rich? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Joel Slemrod, Xinyu Chen
This paper considers the role of capital gains taxation in enhancing tax progressivity, and argues that capital gains are the Achilles’ heel of taxing the rich more effectively. We revisit the key aspects of how capital gains are taxed and address the main arguments against taxing capital gains more heavily: (i) it would discourage socially beneficial activities, such as innovation, (ii) implementing
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The end of bank secrecy: implications for redistribution and optimal taxation Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Niels Johannesen
This paper argues that the ability to enforce taxes on offshore income may shape the redistributional properties of the tax system through two channels. First, it mechanically raises tax progressivity for given parameters of the tax system because high-income taxpayers own most of the offshore wealth. In the US, recent comprehensive reporting by offshore banks suggests the mechanical increase in average
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Would an unapportioned US federal wealth tax be constitutional, and what does that mean? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Daniel Shaviro
To assess the constitutionality of an unapportioned federal wealth tax, and/or of a federal income tax provision reaching wealthy taxpayers’ unrealized gains, one needs an underlying framework for making judgements about legal claims. While no such framework can be entirely specified, at least to general agreement, this does not support nihilistically rejecting all comparative judgements about better
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Taxing the rich (more) Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 İrem Güçeri, Joel Slemrod
This issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy addresses whether and how to tax the rich more, drawing on the expertise of 16 author teams, most of whom are economists but also spanning legal scholarship and political science. The papers in this issue ask a range of research and policy questions about the way governments tax the rich. How can we measure the effective tax rates on the incomes and/or
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What drives major tax reform? Implications for taxing the rich Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Martina Beretta, İrem Güçeri, Katrine Jakobsen
This paper examines some drivers behind substantial changes in tax policy in recent decades. Using existing theories and our definition of ‘beneficial major tax reforms’, we discuss three case studies: the US in the 1980s, the UK in the 1980s, and the UK’s failed ‘mini-budget’ of 2022. Our analysis reveals that the US’s TRA86 has, to some degree, improved efficiency, while the UK reforms may have exacerbated
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Has FATCA succeeded in reducing tax evasion through foreign accounts? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Lisa De Simone, Bridget Stomberg
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) spurred an unprecedented increase in the IRS’s ability to obtain information about assets held and income earned by US persons in foreign financial accounts, which were especially prone to illegal tax evasion. We review the evidence on FATCA’s efficacy at reducing tax evasion through foreign accounts and provide additional, longer-term evidence. We then
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Does a progressive wealth tax reduce top wealth inequality? Evidence from Switzerland Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Samira Marti, Isabel Z Martínez, Florian Scheuer
Like in many other countries, wealth inequality has increased in Switzerland over the last 50 years. By providing new evidence on cantonal top wealth shares for each of the 26 cantons since 1969, we show that the overall trend masks striking differences across cantons, both in levels and trends. Combining this with variation in cantonal wealth taxes, we then estimate an event study model to identify
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Trickle-down revisited Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Max Risch
: In this paper I discuss what can be learned about ‘trickle-down’ ideas from recent empirical evidence on tax incidence, or the effect of tax policies on the distribution of welfare. I underscore three lessons. First, recent research suggests that business income taxes affect the earnings of workers, but these effects largely derive from taxing rents and rent-sharing, highlighting the importance of
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How much tax do the rich really pay? Evidence from the UK Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Arun Advani, Helen Hughson, Andy Summers
Using anonymized administrative data on the population of UK taxpayers, we show that—in line with high-profile anecdotes about the tax affairs of the rich—effective average tax rates (EATRs) decline at the top of the distribution of income and capital gains. We also document substantial variation in EATRs within remuneration level: a quarter of those in the top 1 per cent pay headline rates, while
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Taxing cryptocurrencies Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Katherine Baer, Ruud De Mooij, Shafik Hebous, Michael Keen
Policy-makers are struggling to accommodate cryptocurrencies within tax systems not designed to handle them; this paper reviews the issues that arise. The greatest challenges are for implementation: crypto’s pseudonymity is an inherent obstacle to third-party reporting. Design problems arise from cryptocurrencies’ dual nature as investment assets and means of payment: more straightforward is a compelling
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Rethinking capital and wealth taxation Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman
This paper reviews recent developments in the theory and practice of optimal capital taxation. We emphasize three main rationales for capital taxation. First, the frontier between capital and labour income flows is often fuzzy, thereby lending support to a broad-based, comprehensive income tax. Next, the very notions of income and consumption flows are difficult to define and measure for top wealth
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The role of trusts in taxing the rich Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-08-18 James R Hines
Trusts play important roles in the financial, estate, and tax plans of wealthy families. Evidence from US taxpayers indicates that the tax savings that they obtain from using trusts are rather modest, with one of the major tax benefits providing aggregate savings equal to just 0.05 per cent of the annual income of the top 0.01 per cent of US taxpayers. Trusts are primarily used to facilitate intergenerational
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The impossibility of the impossible trinity? The case of Indonesia Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 M Chatib Basri, Luqman Sumartono
The impossible trinity suggests that an economy cannot simultaneously achieve a fixed exchange rate, high capital mobility, and independent monetary policy without abandoning one of these. However, This paper looks at Indonesia’s experiences from the 2009 QE and the 2013 taper tantrum, considering why Indonesian policy-makers were unable to use policies as per the trilemma, and the policy implications
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How will digital technologies influence the international monetary system? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Eswar Prasad
New and evolving financial technologies, including the advent of cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), will make cross-border payments cheaper and quicker. However, reduced frictions in global capital flows could also result in more capital flow and exchange rate volatility, which is of particular concern for emerging market economies. There will be greater competition among
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Lessons from the 1970s for international monetary reform Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Barry Eichengreen
The collapse of the Bretton Woods System in 1971–3 led to ambitious efforts to reform the international monetary system, mainly through the deliberations of the Committee of Twenty (C-20). Many of the issues considered by the C-20 will be familiar to aficionados of twenty-first century discussions of international monetary reform. Ultimately, attempts to reach a consensus in the C-20 were unsuccessful
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Exorbitant privilege and fiscal autonomy Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Paola Subacchi, Paul van den Noord
An aspect of the ‘exorbitant privilege’ we examine in this paper is the ability of the reserve currency issuer to run expansionary fiscal policies to stabilize the economy when a negative shock occurs without triggering an adverse reaction of foreign lenders, including, in particular, higher interest rates imposed by global capital markets. To explore this ‘privilege’ we look at the G7, a group of
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European monetary regimes after the fall of Bretton Woods: a political economy approach Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Giovanni Farese, Paolo Guerrieri, Pier Carlo Padoan
After the fall of the Bretton Woods system, the EU initiated an original path towards monetary integration which led to the establishment of the European monetary system (EMS) in the 1980s and the economic monetary union (EMU) in the 1990s. This path was an alternative to the floating exchange rate regime which many other countries decided to follow. Adopting a political economy approach, in this paper
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Overcoming ‘original sin’ to secure policy space Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Hyun Song Shin
More than two decades after the emerging market crises of the 1990s, foreign investors are now active investors in emerging-market local-currency-denominated sovereign bonds. In this sense, emerging market governments have overcome ‘Original Sin’—the dictum that emerging market borrowers cannot borrow from foreigners in their own currency. However, although the borrowers no longer bear the risk of
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Creating a new sovereign debt reconstruction mechanism: why incentives, risk sharing, and CACs will all matter Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Gordon Menzies, David Vines
This paper argues that the Covid recession, and aggressive monetary tightening in the US accompanying the post-Covid recovery, are likely to cause a sovereign debt overhang in emerging market economies—i.e. debt which is unlikely to be fully repaid. A sovereign debt reconstruction mechanism (SDRM) seems necessary to avoid widespread disorderly debt write-downs. We discuss a range of procedures that
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The Euro on the global stage Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Klaus Regling
: The war in Ukraine draws renewed attention to the question of whether the international monetary and financial system is moving towards a more ‘multipolar’ character. The euro has been the second most important global currency since its creation, and well-placed to help diversify the global financial architecture. This article reviews the evolution of the euro’s international role along with the
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The International Monetary Fund and capital flows Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Stephen Grenville
Controls on international capital flows were a central issue for the International Monetary Fund at Bretton Woods in 1944. But by the 1970s, mainstream thinking was encouraging open capital flows. A succession of damaging crises followed: Latin America in the 1980s, Mexico again in 1994, and Asia in 1997. Fund policies were tweaked, but the causes were seen as being largely in the recipient countries
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From the Bretton Woods system to the global non-system: the trials and tribulations of slow learning Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 David Vines, Paola Subacchi
In this paper we analyse why an understanding of the global ‘non-system’, in which we now live, took so long to arrive after the Bretton Woods system collapsed in 1971. We first describe how knowledge of how an inflation-targeting regime would operate—what we call ‘Taylor-rule macroeconomics’—was only gradually created during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. We then describe how, subsequent to this, an
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Longer-term structural transitions and short-term macroeconomic adjustment: quantitative implications for the global financial system Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Warwick McKibbin, David Vines
This paper provides quantitative modelling of the effect of three longer-term global transitions: the global demographic transition involving a marked reduction in population growth; a long-term slowdown in productivity growth which may continue, or may conceivably be reversed; and the disruption in the global economy due to increasing climate shocks and the implementation of climate policies that
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Promoting sustainable investment through financial architecture reform Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Adam Triggs
The global financial architecture is struggling to facilitate the sustainable investment needed to address climate change. Some argue that if the Basel III global capital rules treated environmentally friendly assets as being safer forms of capital, banks would be incentivized to hold more of these assets on their balance sheets and extend more green debt, promoting sustainable investment. This paper
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The IMF’s journey on capital controls: what is the destination? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Jonathan D Ostry
The International Monetary Fund’s Articles of Agreement give countries wide latitude to regulate cross-border capital movements, subject mainly to the proviso that such regulations not be used to manipulate the exchange rate for the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive advantage. Beginning from the 1990s, however, the IMF has seemed far more supportive of fully open capital accounts than its legal
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Regulating Big Tech: the role of enhanced disclosures Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Mariana Mazzucato, Ilan Strauss, Tim O’Reilly, Josh Ryan-Collins
Attempts by governments to curb the market power of ‘Big Tech’ (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft) are impeded by limited public information on their diversified digital platform ecosystems. Big Tech’s annual 10-K financial reports disclose little about their globally dominant ‘free’ services, platform user numbers, and monetization practices, and suites of products. To support
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Digital disruption: artificial intelligence and international trade policy Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Emily Jones
Digitalization of the global economy is occurring apace and has spurred a new wave of trade negotiations, as governments and technology firms vie to establish international rules and standards for the digital era. This article examines the ways that trade policy-makers are responding to artificial intelligence (AI), arguably the most disruptive of the new digital technologies. In a digitalized global
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From theory to practice: determining emissions in traded goods under a border carbon adjustment Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Michael A Mehling, Robert A Ritz
As part of its Green Deal, the European Union has advanced a ‘Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’ (CBAM). Reflective of a trend towards greater use of coercive trade measures to advance environmental and other policy objectives, the CBAM would extend carbon pricing to imported goods with the aim of limiting carbon leakage. Theoretical enquiry into this type of policy approach—known as border carbon
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Market power of digital platforms Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Jens-Uwe Franck, Martin Peitz
Digital platforms have reshaped many product markets and play an increasingly important role in economies around the globe. Some of these platforms have become powerful players and may possess a lot of market power. Economists use a number of indicators to assess market power. In this article we discuss to which extent these indicators are helpful in the context of digital platforms. In particular
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Competition, trade, and sustainability in agriculture and food markets in Africa Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Simon Roberts
Food and agriculture accounts for around one-third of global emissions reflecting the effects of consumption in high-income countries on production and land use around the world. These effects include those transmitted through international trade such as in the constituents of animal feed for meat. African countries face a dual challenge of adapting to the growing effects of climate change in the shape
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New frontiers of trade and trade policy: digitalization and climate change Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Emily Jones, Christopher Adam
The global spread of the digital revolution and the need to manage the climate have radically altered the international trade landscape and have rendered the architecture of the World Trade Organization ill-equipped to address emerging regulatory challenges posed by cross-border flows of digital products and by carbon emissions embodied in traded goods and services. This essay reviews the set of papers
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Building trust in digital trade will require a rethink of trade policy-making Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Susan Ariel Aaronson
In 2019, Shinzo Abe, then Prime Minister of Japan, stated that if the world wanted to achieve the benefits of the data-driven economy, members of the World Trade Organization should find a common approach to combining ‘data free flow with trust’. However, he never explained what these rules should look like and how nations might find an internationally accepted approach to such rules. In this paper
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Cross-border data flows and privacy in global trade law: has trade trumped data protection? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Mira Burri
This article is set against the complex backdrop of the evolution of the data-driven economy and its regulation, and seeks to provide a better contextualization of the topic of data protection as a matter of trade law. It looks at the recent proliferation of rules on data flows, specifically addressed in free trade agreements (FTAs), at how data protection has been framed in these treaties, as well
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Financing vaccine equity: funding for day-zero of the next pandemic Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2022-12-14 Ruchir Agarwal, Tristan Reed
A lack of timely financing for purchases of vaccines and other health products impeded the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on analysis of contract signature and delivery dates in Covid-19 vaccine advance purchase agreements, this paper finds that 60–75 per cent of the delay in vaccine deliveries to low- and middle-income countries is attributable to their signing purchase agreements
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Optimal allocation of vaccines in a pandemic Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2022-12-14 Joshua S Gans
This paper provides an overview of approaches to the allocation of scarce vaccine doses during a pandemic. Price and non-price methods are outlined to determine whom to prioritize. It is argued that depending on viral and vaccine properties, it may be superior to use epidemiological criteria than health risk criteria for prioritization. The paper concludes by noting that the key trade-offs between
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Is it possible to prepare for a pandemic? Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2022-12-14 Robert Tucker Omberg, Alex Tabarrok
How effective were investments in pandemic preparation? We use a comprehensive and detailed measure of pandemic preparedness, the Global Health Security (GHS) Index produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHU), to measure which investments in pandemic preparedness reduced infections, deaths, excess deaths, or otherwise ameliorated or shortened the pandemic. We also look at whether
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Expanding capacity for vaccines against Covid-19 and future pandemics: a review of economic issues Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2022-12-14 Susan Athey, Juan Camilo Castillo, Esha Chaudhuri, Michael Kremer, Alexandre Simoes Gomes, Christopher M Snyder
We review economic arguments for using public policy to accelerate vaccine supply during a pandemic. Rapidly vaccinating a large share of the global population helps avoid economic, mortality, and social losses, which in the case of Covid-19 mounted into trillions of dollars. However, pharmaceutical firms are unlikely to have private incentives to invest in vaccine capacity at the socially optimal
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Regional aid policies after Brexit: 2nd edition Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2022-01-04 David Bell
This article revisits the issue of UK regional policy 5 years after the Brexit referendum. Though the mechanisms to replace EU regional investment funds are not yet in place, much has changed both in terms of understanding, and of policy relating to regional development, in the post-Brexit UK. These changes include the acknowledgement of wide regional variations in productivity and the UK government
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UK infrastructure after Brexit Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-12-06 Bridget Rosewell, John Hargreaves
Infrastructure is central to many aspects of policy, and this focus has survived the impact of Covid-induced expenditure. The paper examines the scope for Brexit to allow infrastructure planning to be more devolved, consider demand-side and nature-based solutions, and become more competitive. It concludes that Brexit offers the opportunity for a more system-based approach to infrastructure planning
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The consequences of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement for the UK’s international trade Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-12-03 Ilaria Fusacchia, Luca Salvatici, L Alan Winters
: We analyse the likely trade effects of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which defines the post-Brexit trading environment between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). We apply a computable general equilibrium model and focus on trade in value added rather than just the gross values of exports and imports. We describe the TCA and estimate its effects on the costs of conducting
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Tax policy in the UK post-Brexit Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Judith Freedman, Glen Loutzenhiser
: Tax matters figured prominently in the Brexit debate. Current signs are, however, that the UK government is not planning the creation of a post-Brexit ‘Singapore on Thames’ as some had predicted. In fact, we are seeing increases to the main corporation tax rate in response to broader international tax developments and the fiscal upheaval caused by the pandemic. Prior to Brexit, the UK already enjoyed
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Brexit and labour market inequalities: potential spatial and occupational impacts Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-11-30 Alexander Davenport, Peter Levell
In this paper we examine the possible distributional impacts of new trade barriers associated with the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement governing relations between the UK and EU after Brexit. We use a model of labour demand that incorporates input–output links across industries, and that allows for demand substitution by firms and consumers and worker reallocation across industries. We find that
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Reshaping UK/Ireland relations: Brexit’s cross-border and bilateral impact Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-11-26 Mary C Murphy
This article considers the implications of Brexit for UK–Irish relations. It examines how Brexit has altered the terms of the British–Irish relationship by considering the impact on bilateral and cross-border economic and trade patterns. The article focuses on two primary economic effects. First, the short-term impact of Brexit and the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol on the Northern Ireland economy
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The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: lessons learnt Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-11-18 Adam Bennett, David Vines
This paper analyses the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the EU and the UK. We focus on two specific features: rules of origin and non-tariff barriers. The putative purpose of the TCA was to promote free trade between the signatories, and both of the features identified have ‘level-playing-field’ objectives which are designed to promote that purpose. However, both can also be used for
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The emerging contours of a post-Brexit Britain Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy (IF 6.326) Pub Date : 2021-11-16 Christopher Adam
: This paper introduces a set of papers analysing the likely economic impact of Brexit across key aspects of the UK economy as the country comes to the end of its first full year outside the European Union. The Brexit vote in 2016 was not just a vote on the UK’s relations with the institutions of the European Union but was also a referendum on the fractured state of the UK as a nation. The resulting