کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
985558 | 1480683 | 2014 | 12 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
• The paper examines the political difficulty of enacting environmental taxes.
• We observe significant tax aversion – i.e., opposition to taxes that are materially beneficial.
• A trial period of an environmental tax significantly mitigates tax aversion.
• Effects from a trial period are robust across alternative tax schemes.
This paper examines the political difficulty of enacting welfare-enhancing environmental taxes. Using referenda in a market experiment with externalities, we investigate the effect of trial periods on the acceptability of two theoretically equivalent Pigouvian tax schemes. While implementing either tax is in subjects’ material self-interest, we find significant levels of opposition to both schemes, though the level differs considerably. Results show that trial runs can overcome initial tax aversion, which is robust across schemes, but a trial with one scheme does not affect the acceptability of the other. Trial periods also mitigate initial biases in preferences of alternative tax schemes.
Journal: Resource and Energy Economics - Volume 38, November 2014, Pages 84–95