Essays on environmental and public economics

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorWilliams, Roberton C., 1972-en
dc.contributor.advisorHamermesh, Daniel S.en
dc.contributor.committeeMemberAbrevaya, Jasonen
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFullerton, Donen
dc.contributor.committeeMemberTrejo, Stephenen
dc.creatorMonti, Holly Anne Odellen
dc.date.accessioned2011-06-22T16:51:21Zen
dc.date.accessioned2011-06-22T16:51:38Zen
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-11T22:22:25Z
dc.date.available2011-06-22T16:51:21Zen
dc.date.available2011-06-22T16:51:38Zen
dc.date.available2017-05-11T22:22:25Z
dc.date.issued2011-05en
dc.date.submittedMay 2011en
dc.date.updated2011-06-22T16:51:38Zen
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation is a collection of three essays in the fields of environmental and public economics. The first essay assesses the effect of government spending on charitable donations to environmental causes. Using a theoretical model, I solve for changes in private donations due to increased government spending and contrast this with changes due to direct grants to nonprofit organizations. Depending on the nonprofit’s fundraising response, government spending may result in the crowding out or in of private giving. I empirically investigate this topic using data from the tax returns of environmental charities as well as a panel survey data set on the philanthropic behavior of individuals. My results indicate that government expenditures on the environment actually crowd in private giving, partly due to the increased fundraising response by charities. The second essay examines the incidence of a pollution tax scheme in which tax revenue is returned to low-income workers. Using a general equilibrium model with both skilled and unskilled labor, a decomposition of the real net wage effects shows the effect of the tax rebate, the effect on the uses side of income (higher product prices), and the effect on the sources side of income (relative wage rates). Numerical examples show that returning the revenue to the low-skilled workers is still not enough to offset the effect of higher product prices; in almost all cases, the rebate does not prevent a reduction in the real net wage. The third essay studies the distributional effects of the SO2 allowance market. Even if low-income households do not have large budget shares for the polluting good, grandfathered permit systems may still be regressive since the permit rents accrue disproportionately to wealthy shareholders in the polluting industry. I estimate the burden imposed on different income groups under a grandfathered permit policy and compare this with the burden under an auctioned policy. Using Monte Carlo techniques, I calculate the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution of possible results. I find evidence of regressivity for grandfathered permits whereas an emissions tax/auctioned permit system can be progressive if the scarcity rents are distributed in lump sums.en
dc.description.departmentEconomicsen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2011-05-3365en
dc.language.isoengen
dc.subjectEnvironmental economicsen
dc.subjectCharitable givingen
dc.subjectGovernment spendingen
dc.subjectCharityen
dc.subjectAltruismen
dc.subjectCrowding outen
dc.subjectDonationsen
dc.subjectEnvironmenten
dc.subjectTax incidenceen
dc.subjectPollution taxen
dc.subjectDistributional burdensen
dc.subjectEmissions permitsen
dc.subjectEquity effectsen
dc.subjectPollution policyen
dc.titleEssays on environmental and public economicsen
dc.type.genrethesisen

Files

Collections

University of Texas at Austin