Emission taxation, green R&D, and managerial delegation contracts with environmental and sales incentives

Abstract We extend the analysis of a managerial delegation model with green R&D by incorporating two explicit incentive‐based executive compensation contracts. In the combination of environmental and sales delegations, (i) the incentives are higher than those under a single incentive scheme, (ii) firms' output and abatement efforts are higher, and (iii) total emissions are lower, and (iv) a firm's profits are higher than that under a sales delegation. Therefore, an emission tax policy, along with firms' compensation packages related to environmental delegation, can play a key role in curving market failure and improving welfare.