Innovation and Climate Change Policy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gans, Joshua S.
• 署名单位: University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.4.4.125
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 125-145
• 关键词: endogenous technological-change; co2 abatement; technical change; GROWTH; MODEL; competitiveness; environment; capture

摘要

This paper examines whether climate change policies will induce innovation in environmentally friendly technologies. The model demonstrates that a tighter emissions cap will reduce the scale of fossil fuel usage and that this will diminish incentives to improve fossil fuel efficiencies. In addition, such policies may stimulate the relative demand for innovations that improve the efficiency of alternative energy but carbon scarcity may diminish innovation incentives overall. Only for technologies that directly abate carbon pollution will there be an unambiguously positive impact on innovation. These results have implications for climate change targets and the design of climate change policy. (JEL O31, Q54, Q55, Q58)