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dc.titleCash transfers in the context of carbon pricing reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean
dc.contributor.authorMissbach, Leonard
dc.contributor.authorSteckel, Jan Christoph
dc.contributor.authorVogt-Schilb, Adrien
dc.contributor.orgunitClimate Change Solutions Division
dc.coverageLatin America and the Caribbean
dc.date.available2023-01-09T00:01:00
dc.date.issue2023-01-09T00:01:00
dc.description.abstractOne reason carbon prices are difficult to implement is that they might imply high additional costs on poor and vulnerable households. In response, studies often highlight that recycling revenues through cash transfers can render carbon pricing reforms progressive. This neglects that existing cash transfer programs target households from low-income groups often imperfectly and that impacts of a carbon price are heterogeneous within income groups. In this study we analyze the role of existing cash transfer schemes to alleviate distributional effects of carbon pricing in 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries. We find carbon pricing to be regressive in 11 countries, progressive in 5, and show that differences within income groups exceed differences between them. Beyond total household expenditures, car ownership and cooking fuel explain the variance in carbon pricing impacts. We show that households who are most affected by carbon pricing, some of them poor, do not necessarily have access to existing cash transfer programs. Governments aiming to compensate households may broaden coverage of existing cash transfer programs or consider complementing instruments such as in-kind transfers or removing existing distortionary taxes.
dc.format.extent31
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004568
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Cash-transfers-in-the-context-of-carbon-pricing-reforms-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean.pdf
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/spanish/document/dt-cash-transfers-espanol-final2.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectClimate Change Mitigation
dc.subjectTransfer Program
dc.subjectEconomy
dc.subjectRemittance
dc.subjectPublic Expenditure
dc.subjectBudget
dc.subjectConditional Cash Transfer
dc.subjectElectricity
dc.subjectWage
dc.subjectLiquefied Petroleum Gas
dc.subjectHousehold Expenditure
dc.subjectDecarbonization
dc.subjectDebtor Finance
dc.subjectEnergy
dc.subject.jelcodeC67 - Input—Output Models
dc.subject.jelcodeH23 - Externalities • Redistributive Effects • Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
dc.subject.jelcodeO54 - Latin America • Caribbean
dc.subject.jelcodeQ52 - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs • Distributional Effects • Employment Effects
dc.subject.jelcodeQ54 - Climate • Natural Disasters and Their Management • Global Warming
dc.subject.keywordsCarbon Pricing;Climate mitigation;Energy Poverty;social acceptability;Tax Incidence
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01404
idb.operationRG-E1563
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