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Carbon emission reduction policy is the main method to curb carbon emissions and tackle climate change. However, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of carbon emission reduction polices from the welfare and economic perspectives. This study establishes a dynamic general equilibrium model with input-output structure, and compares the effects of emission reduction in all industries and in high energy-consuming industries. The main conclusions are that carbon emission reduction constraints for all industries have more significant negative impacts on consumption and social welfare compared to emission reduction constraints for high energy-consuming industries. To be more precisely, carbon emission reduction in high energy-consuming industries has comparative advantages in maintaining social welfare stability. Regarding economic effects, compared with the carbon emission reduction in high energy-consuming industries, carbon emission reduction in all industries leads to a larger decline in total output and outputs of most industries. However, the role of carbon emission reduction in all industries is more significant in promoting employment. The carbon emission reduction policies of all industries and high energy-consuming industries have strengths in economic effects respectively. The findings could provide references for the government to take appropriate measures to promote carbon emission reduction and economic growth. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.