Beirut Economics Research Seminar Series-Dr. Walid Marrouch
AKSOB 16th floor, Conference Room 1617, LAU Beirut campus and via Webex
The LAU Department of Economics and the AUB Department of Economics co-organize the Beirut Economics Research Seminar Series. The aim is to bring together Lebanon’s economics research community—including economics faculty members, researchers, students and professionals.The sessions feature discussions that enable participants to exchange ideas directly and critically with speakers on frontier economics research topics. They are held every two weeks during the fall and spring semesters, alternating between the LAU and AUB campuses. Attendance is open to all.
The Beirut Economics Research Seminar Series is generously funded by the AKSOB Dean’s Office at LAU and the FAS Dean’s Office at AUB.
For more information, please contact Dr. Jamal Haidar at LAU.
Title: Emissions Taxes and Market Power: Linked vs. Unlinked Market Failures
Speaker: Dr. Walid Marrouch
Affiliation: Lebanese American University
Time: 12:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m.
Location: AKSOB 16th floor, Conference Room 1617, LAU Beirut campus
Online via Webex
About the talk:
Abstract: This paper derives optimal emission taxes in the presence of two-sided environmental externalities and one-sided market power, which is active either on the supply or demand side. Abatement efforts can be undertaken by either producers or consumers (one-sided abatement), by both (two-sided abatement), or by neither. In the one-sided abatement scenario, the optimal emission tax levied on the (un)abating polluters is (below) their respective Pigouvian level; however, in the absence of abatement, the taxes are not unique. Under these scenarios, the first-best is achieved since the two market failures, pollution and market power, are unlinked. In the two-sided abatement case, the taxes imposed on producers and consumers fall below their Pigouvian level; however, they do not achieve the first-best as the market failures are linked. By bridging a key gap in the modeling of consumption externalities and preferences, this paper contributes novel insights that generalize across both horizontal and vertical market structures.
About the speaker:
Biography: Dr. Walid Marrouch is a professor of economics at the Lebanese American University (LAU), where he also serves as the associate dean of Graduate Studies and Research. His research interests span environmental and resource economics, energy economics, development economics, and applied game theory. He has made numerous contributions to public policy through consultancy work for international organizations, including the UNDP, ILO, and ESCWA, as well as through participation in expert group meetings, external policy reviews, and appearances in local and regional media outlets. He is affiliated with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen International) in London, the Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) in Montreal, and the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran, and Turkey (ERF) in Cairo.