Placing (and places of) carbon taxes in policy mixes for climate change mitigation

Abstract The extent to which carbon taxes play a role in mitigating climate change is unclear. We take as a starting point the observation that the implementation of carbon taxes has not conformed with neoclassical economics theories. With this paper we aim to contribute to a better understanding on whether carbon taxes have a place in policy mixes for climate change mitigation by analysing their design. To do so, this paper examines the provisions and prescriptions of carbon taxes adopted in fourteen European countries. First, we review the current state of the art in carbon taxes research. Second, we present a novel framework to unpack the provisions and prescriptions in the design of a carbon tax. As next step, we apply the framework to the cases. Lastly, we discuss whether carbon taxes have a specific place within the broad spectrum of climate policy mixes. Through these steps, the research question this paper intends to answer is: which place, if any, does a carbon tax have in climate policy mixes, through its in-design provisions and prescriptions? The data under analysis is policy texts, which are subjected to qualitative content analysis.