The Social Cost of Carbon and Inequality: When Local Redistribution Shapes Global Carbon Prices
通过最优税收模型研究碳的社会成本，发现国家内部不平等会显著影响全球最优碳价，若一国不补偿低收入家庭的气候损害，全球碳价倾向于上升。
The social cost of carbon is a central metric for optimal carbon prices. Previous literature shows that inequality significantly influences the social cost of carbon, but mostly omits heterogeneity below the national level. We present an optimal taxation model of the social cost of carbon that accounts for inequality between and within countries. We find that climate and distributional policy can generally not be separated. If only one country does not compensate low-income households for disproportionate damages, the social cost of carbon tends to increase globally. Optimal carbon prices remain roughly unchanged if national redistribution leaves inequality between households unaffected by climate change and if the utility of households is approximately logarithmic in consumption.