Hendy and Kerr (2005b) find that an emissions charge on agricultural methane and nitrous oxide of $25 per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent would be likely to reduce New Zealand‘s net land-use related emissions for commitment period one in the order of 3%, with full accounting. The costs per farmer and as a percentage of profit would be very high. This paper considers the regional impacts of such a policy in New Zealand by allocating the emission charge across space according to the location of animals. We then combine our emissions charge information with data on the socio-economic characteristics of the affected areas. Obviously rural areas are heavily affected. In many respects, for example median income, ethnic mix, and percentage of working... |