MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02711cam a22002897a 4500
001 2009655747
003 DLC
005 20090527090907.0
007 cr |||||||||||
008 090526s2009 dcu sb i000 0 eng
010 $a 2009655747
040 $aDLC$cDLC
050 00 $aHG3881.5.W57
245 10 $aTax policy to reduce carbon emissions in South Africa$h[electronic resource] /$cShantayanan Devarajan, Delfin S. Go, Sherman Robinson, Karen Thierfelder.
260 $a[Washington, D.C. :$bWorld Bank,$c2009]
490 1 $aPolicy research working paper ;$v4933
538 $aSystem requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
538 $aMode of access: World Wide Web.
500 $aTitle from PDF file as viewed on 5/26/2009.
530 $aAlso available in print.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references.
520 3 $a"Noting that South Africa may be one of the few African countries that could contribute to mitigating climate change, the authors explore the impact of a carbon tax relative to alternative energy taxes on economic welfare. Using a disaggregate general-equilibrium model of the South African economy, they capture the structural characteristics of the energy sector, linking a supply mix that is heavily skewed toward coal to energy use by different sectors and hence their carbon content. The authors consider a "pure" carbon tax as well as various proxy taxes such as those on energy or energy-intensive sectors like transport and basic metals, all of which achieve the same level of carbon reduction. In general, the more targeted the tax to carbon emissions, the better the welfare results. If a carbon tax is feasible, it will have the least marginal cost of abatement by a substantial amount when compared to alternative tax instruments. If a carbon tax is not feasible, a sales tax on energy inputs is the next best option. Moreover, labor market distortions such as labor market segmentation or unemployment will likely dominate the welfare and equity implications of a carbon tax for South Africa. This being the case, if South Africa were able to remove some of the distortions in the labor market, the cost of carbon taxation would be negligible. In short, the discussion of carbon taxation in South Africa can focus on considerations other than the economic welfare costs, which are likely to be quite low. "--World Bank web site.
650 0 $aCarbon taxes$zSouth Africa.
700 1 $aDevarajan, Shantayanan,$d1954-
710 2 $aWorld Bank.
830 0 $aPolicy research working papers (Online) ;$v4933.
856 40 $uhttp://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&theSitePK=469372&piPK=64165421&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000158349_20090518093557