Although fuel taxes are a practical means of curbing vehicular air pollution, congestion, and accidents in developing countries—all of which are typically major problems—they are often opposed on distributional grounds.

Santiago was one of the first cities outside the OECD to implement a tradable permit program to control air pollution. This paper looks closely at the program’s performance over the past 10 years, stressing its similarities and discrepancies with trading programs in developed countries, and analyzing how it has reacted to regulatory adjustments and market shocks. Studying Santiago’s experience allows us to discuss the drawbacks and advantages of applying tradable permits in less developed countries.

We explore the possibilities of using incentive-based environmental regulations of CO2 emissions from international civil aviation. In theory incentive-based instruments such as an emission charge or a tradable emission permit system are better regulations than so-called command-and-control regulations such as emission limits or technology standards.