Abstract
Exactly speaking, there is no production process which does not cause so-called “external” effects in one form or another. Maximization of private profits or — probably even more — the directives of bureaucratic planning each are actually prototypical for a system of motivation and regulation which offers an enormous incentive for reducing individual costs (for “easier” fulfilling of plans, respectively) to the debit of third parties. In the following, we refer to capitalistic market economies as reference system because we are more familiar with the way they work, not because we estimated that bureaucratic (said to be real socialist) planning economies were able to control “external” effects in a better way.
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Remarks
see the work of the Enquête-Kommission “Vorsorge zum Schutz der Erdatmosphäre” des Deutschen Bundestages, especially the third report (Dritter Bericht zum Thema Schutz der Erde, Bundestagsdrucksache 11/8030 vom 2.10.1990)
Pigou, A.C., The Economics of Welfare, London, 1920, repr. 1950
see Kapp, W.S., Soziale Kosten der Marktwirtschaft, Frankfurt 1979
comp. Baumol, W.S., On Taxation and the Control of Externalities, in: The American Economic Review, 62/1972, p. 307ff.
Coase, R.H., The Problem of Social Cost, in: Journal of Law and Economics, 3/1960, p. Iff.;
Buchanan, P., Tullock, G., Polluter’s Profits and Political Response: Direct Controls versus Taxes, in: The American Economic Review, 65/1975, p. 139ff.
Wicke, L., Umweltökonomie, München 1989, p. 43
Hohmeyer, O., Social Costs of Energy Consumption, Berlin/Tokyo 1988, Introduction
ibid.
O. Hohmeyer calculates mean gross social costs of electricity generation of about 4 to 9 Pf/kwh for fossil-fueled and about 10 to 21 Pi/kwh for nuclear power plants (at present, 1 US cent = 1,5 Pf).
Lovins, A., NEGAwatts: A Practical Remedy for Megagoofs, Old Snowmass 1985; idem, Saving Gigabucks with NEGAwatts, Old Snowmass 1986
e.g., in the form of “competitive bidding”
We explicitly vote against a fee on CO 2 emissions, because
- other climate-affecting gases (CH4 and O3/NOx) are neglected
- the one-sided concentration on the goal “climate stabilization” leads to risk shifting, and to discrimination and neglecting of other “external” effects (nuclear risks; consequences of road accidents)
- this implies a decision for nuclear energy “through the back door”
- the control effect would be prohibitive for coal use in electricity generation, but small for automobile gasoline
comp. Enquete-Kommission “Vorsorge zum Schutz der Erdatmosphäre”, Dritter Bericht (s. note (1)).
comp. Stumpf, H./Windorfer, E. (WIBERA), Fernwärme in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Hindernisse für ihre Förderung, Düsseldorf 1984
comp. Enquête-Kommission “Vorsorge zum Schutz der Erdatmosphäre”, Dritter Bericht (s. note (1)); and Fritsche, U./Köhler, S. (ÖKO-Institut), Das CO2-optimierte GRÜNE Energiewende-Szenario 2010, Freiburg/Darmstadt 1990
The technical energy savings potential is being estimated as 35 to 45% for the FRG in total and as 70 to 90% for existing and new buildings (compared to 1987 consumption); see Enquête-Kommission, as cited
comp. Hennicke, P., Wie kann die Aufheizung der Erde verhindert werden? Eckpunkte eines CO2-Reduktionskonzepts für die Bundesrepublik, in: MEMO-Forum, Nr. 15, Bremen, März 1990; Hennicke, P./Müller, M., Klimaänderungen und Treibhauseffekt, in: WSI-Mitteilungen 7/1990
BMU/UBA, Zielvorstellung für eine erreichbare Reduktion der CO2-Emissionsn, Vorlage vom 13.6.1990
ISI/Prognos, Die energiewirtschaftliche Entwicklung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland bis zum Jahr 2010. Kurzfassung, Basel 1989, S. 15
Wirtschaftsministerkonferenz vom 14./15.9.1989, in: Arbeitsunterlage der Enquête-Kommission “Vorsorge zum Schutz der Erdatmosphäre” 11/366 vom 5. Oktober 1989, S. 48ff.
comp. Hennicke, P./Bach, W.. Zusatzvotum zu Abschnitt E “Nationales Vorgehen zur Reduktion energiebedingter klimarelevanter Spurengase”, in: Enquête-Kommission “Vorsorge zum Schutz der Erdatmosphäre”, Dritter Bericht, as cited
Translation: Dipl.-Phys. S. Thomas
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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
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Hennicke, P. (1991). Internalization of “External’Costs: Necessary, but not Sufficient!. In: Hohmeyer, O., Ottinger, R.L. (eds) External Environmental Costs of Electric Power. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76712-8_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76712-8_24
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