On the use of exchange rates as trading rules in a bilateral system of transferable discharge permits

The use of a system of transferable discharge permits to control the harmful effects of non-uniformly mixed pollutants requires the application of trading rules in order to prevent permit trading among sources from violating environmental standards. The elements and properties of bilateral trading rules can be analyzed more easily once formulated as exchange rates, which would convert, in a cost-effective way, the emission right potentially given up by the seller into an offsetting emission right acquired by the buyer. In this article, a new expression for such exchange rates is proposed and then analyzed to infer some unexplored properties of the system.