TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chatterji,Shurojit
AU  - Ghosal,Sayantan
AU  - Walsh,Sean
AU  - Whalley,John
TI  - Unilateral Measures and Emissions Mitigation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15441
PY  - 2009
Y2  - October 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15441
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15441.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Shurojit Chatterji
School of Economics
Singapore Management University
90 Stamford Road
Singapore 178903
E-Mail: shurojitc@smu.edu.sg

Sayantan Ghosal
University of Warwick
E-Mail: S.Ghosal@warwick.ac.uk

Sean Walsh
Centre for International Governance Innovation
57 Erb Street West
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6C2
Canada 
E-Mail: swalsh@cigionline.org

John Whalley
Department of Economics
Social Science Centre
University of Western Ontario
London, ON N6A 5C2
CANADA
Tel: 519/661-3509
Fax: 519/661-3666
E-Mail: jwhalley@uwo.ca
AB  - We discuss global climate mitigation that builds on existing unilateral measures to cut emissions. We document and discuss the rationale for such unilateral measures argue that such measures have the potential to generate positive spillover effects both within and across countries. In a simple dynamic model of learning we show that while single countries on their own may never get to the point of switching completely to low emission activities, a learning process with positive spillovers across nations is more likely to deliver a global switch to low emissions. We discuss the key features of a new global Intellectual Property (IP) regime that builds on the positive spillovers inherent in unilateral initiatives and accelerates global convergence to low emissions.
ER  -