THE PROBLEM OF ALIGNING GREEN POLICY INSTRUMENTS WITH THE SCALE OF SMALL BUSINESSES

Abstract

The theses assess the economic instruments of green policy in terms of their correspondence to the scale of small business. Carbon taxation, emissions quota trading, and green bonds were historically designed for large emitters, and their application to microentities is not justified by transaction costs. The instruments that work for small business are of a cost-reducing rather than a penalizing nature. Using the case of Uzbekistan, the weak link of the support chain — delivering the resource to the microfirm — is identified, and the problem of the opposing price signal created by conventional energy subsidies is demonstrated.