Mouez Fodha

This paper examines an endogenous growth model that allows us to consider the dynamics and sustainability of debt, pollution, and growth. Debt evolves according to the financing adaptation and mitigation efforts and to the damages caused by pollution. Three types of features are important for our analysis: the technology through the negative effect of pollution on TFP; the fiscal policy; the initial level of pollution and debt with respect to capital. Indeed, if the initial level of pollution is too high, the economy is relegated to an endogenous tipping zone where pollution perpetually increases relatively to capital. If the effect of pollution on TFP is too strong, the economy cannot converge to a stable and sustainable long-run balanced growth path. If the income tax rates are high enough, we can converge to a stable balanced growth path with low pollution and high debt relative to capital. This sustainable equilibrium can even be characterized by higher growth and welfare. This last result underlines the role that tax policy can play in reconciling debt and environmental sustainability.

We study whether fiscal policies, especially public debt, can help to curb the macroeconomic and health consequences of epidemics. Our approach is based on three main features: we introduce the dynamics of epidemics in an overlapping generations model to take into account that old people are more vulnerable; people are more easily infected when pollution is high; public spending in health care and public debt can be used to tackle the effects of epidemics. We show that fiscal policies can promote convergence to a stable disease-free steady state. When public policies are not able to permanently eradicate the epidemic, public debt, and income transfers could reduce the number of infected people and increase capital and GDP per capita. As a prerequisite, pollution intensity should not be too high. Finally, we define a household subsidy policy that eliminates income and welfare inequalities between healthy and infected individuals.

Cet article examine l’articulation entre les politiques environnementales et les politiques budgétaires et fiscales. Le financement des politiques environnementales représente un obstacle indéniable à leur mise en œuvre. Tout d’abord, l’efficacité des instruments standards de la politique environnementale est évaluée selon les critères de l’économie publique, notamment en termes de distorsions, externalités, bien-être et agrégats macroéconomiques. Les limites de ces instruments, quant à l’acceptabilité et aux inégalités, sont également envisagées. Par rapport aux quotas et aux normes, la taxe présente des avantages significatifs en termes d’incitations à des comportements plus vertueux, mais également en termes de revenus pour l’État. En limitant l’objectif de la taxe à la lutte contre les pollutions, le recyclage des recettes est un outil puissant de correction de ses effets indésirables. Néanmoins, face à un endettement excessif, les recettes de la taxe peuvent également servir au remboursement de la dette publique. Nous étudions ensuite les interactions entre la taxe environnementale et la dette publique. Le remboursement de la dette par les recettes de la taxe environnementale redonne des marges de manœuvre budgétaire. Symétriquement, en présence d’un niveau de dette acceptable, le financement des politiques publiques de lutte contre la pollution par l’émission de dette, sans augmentation de la pression fiscale, constitue une option intéressante. Néanmoins, le recours à la dette doit se faire avec parcimonie, seulement si la technologie de dépollution est significativement efficace. Enfin, la vulnérabilité environnementale des pays exposés au risque de transition ou climatique se traduit par le paiement d’une prime de risque sur leur dette souveraine, et donc par un surcoût de la dette publique, fragilisant d’autant plus les pays les plus pauvres. En conciliant les objectifs budgétaires et environnementaux, une remise de dette pour les pays en développement pourrait aider ces pays dans leur lutte contre la pollution.

This paper examines the determinants of residential CO 2 emissions, which are not covered by the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), in 19 European countries between 2000-2017. Using both static and dynamic panel models, we found strong relationships between CO 2 emissions per capita, GDP per capita, energy prices and heating needs. We then assessed the impact of European carbon taxation and show that a e20/tonne CO 2 tax lowers emissions by 1% on average. We found that this tax affects countries differently in terms of tax revenue-to-GDP ratio. Poland and the Czech Republic would have to pay the highest contribution, and Portugal and Denmark the lowest. Finally, we propose a scenario that equalizes countries’ tax burdens. We show that, were Europe to redistribute all tax revenues, the main beneficiaries would be Poland and Belgium, while Denmark and Luxembourg would have to pay a surtax.

We analyze the effects of a debt relief, that is, a decrease in public debt of a low-income country financed by a high-income country, on environmental quality. Under perfect mobility of assets, the debt relief increases the overall capital stock, and environmental quality when public abatements are sufficiently efficient. Welfare in both countries can also improve. Under a weak mobility of assets, capital does no more increase in the richest country, but environmental quality can improve. This comes from a crowding-out effect of debt in the high-income country, which does no more take place when the mobility of assets is significant.

Modéliser la demande et les capacités de production d’énergie et de ressources minérales

En près de dix ans d’existence, l’Association française des économistes de l’environnement et des ressources naturelles (Faere) a su fédérer une large population de chercheurs, tant français qu’étrangers, autour de problématiques qui sont plus que jamais au cœur des grands débats de nos sociétés. La conférence annuelle de l’association est l’occasion de discuter des développements les plus récents de ces recherches. Ce numéro de la Revue française d’économie propose un aperçu des travaux présentés lors de la conférence de 2021, organisée par l’université Grenoble Alpes et le GAEL.

We study whether fiscal policies, especially public debt, can help to curb the macroeconomic and health consequences of epidemics. Our approach is based on three main features: we introduce the dynamics of epidemics in an overlapping generations model to take into account that old people are more vulnerable; people are more easily infected when pollution is high; public spending and public debt can be used to tackle the effects of epidemics. We show that fiscal policies can promote the convergence to a stable steady state with no epidemics. When public policies are not able to permanently eradicate the epidemic, public debt and income transfers could reduce the number of infected people and increase capital and GDP per capita. As a prerequisite, pollution intensity should not be too high. Finally, we define a household subsidy policy which eliminates income and welfare inequalities between healthy and infected individuals.