Transaction Costs and Tradeable Permits

Tradeable-permit systems are at the center of current interest and activity in market-based reforms of environmental policy, because these systems can offer significant advantages over conventional approaches to pollution control. Unfortunately, claims made for their relative cost-effectiveness have often been exaggerated. Transaction costs, which may be significant in these markets, reduce trading levels and increase abatement costs. In some cases, equilibrium permit allocations and hence aggregate control costs are sensitive to initial permit distributions, providing an efficiency justification for politicians′ typical focus on initial allocations