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Buying versus Leasing Fuel Deposits for Preservation *
Author(s) -
Eichner Thomas,
Kollenbach Gilbert,
Schopf Mark
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/sjoe.12394
Subject(s) - purchasing , lease , economics , welfare , externality , climate policy , natural resource economics , fossil fuel , climate change , economy , microeconomics , market economy , finance , operations management , ecology , biology
In a two‐period model with two groups of countries that extract, trade, and consume fossil fuels, a climate coalition fights against climate change by purchasing or leasing deposits to prevent their extraction and seeks to manipulate fuel prices in its favor. The policy of purchasing deposits is inefficient because it leaves the first‐period climate externality non‐internalized. By contrast, the deposit‐lease policy turns out to be efficient if it eliminates strategic action in the fuel markets. In an empirically calibrated economy, the coalition's welfare and total welfare are greater with the deposit‐lease policy than with the deposit‐purchase policy if the discount rate is smaller than 2.7 percent per annum.