Strategic delegation of environmental policy making

A common claim is that nations should cooperate in environmental policy making. However, there is little empirical support that non-cooperative decision making results in too low environmental standards and taxes. We develop a theoretical model and show that if the median voter cares sufficiently for the environment, he has an incentive to delegate policy making to a politician that cares more for the environment than himself. By doing so, he mitigates the risks of a ‘race to the bottom’ in environmental taxes.