(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-04-26)
Qu, Jingwen
Externalities arising from actions of one player in the economy and directly affecting the well-being of another are ubiquitous. In these situations, market equilibria often fail to be efficient. This dissertation explores the roles of networks, clubs and policy commitments in the internalization of externalities and thus in the generation of efficient outcomes. The first essay examines how network-based social incentives would affect the provision of public goods in endogenous networks. The second essay analyzes results of the formation of multiple climate clubs, as well as the role of free trade agreements among club members therein. The third essay studies effects of policy commitments to the provision of a new global-warming-relieving technology called solar radiation management relative to effects of policy commitments to carbon mitigation.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-04-06)
Qu, Jingwen
We study timing effects of carbon mitigation and solar radiation management (SRM) policies for correlated pollutants, CO₂ and SO₂. We show that national levels of carbon and sulfur emissions quotas and SRM implementation are positively correlated with each other. First-mover advantages exist when deciding both carbon quotas and SRM levels. Moreover, we use an example to illustrate that if international equity is considered, governments would be willing to choose SRM levels before carbon quotas since it yields higher payoffs and less acid rain and droughts damages. This timing was neglected by all previous theoretical economic models on geoengineering.