Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry

Aghion, Philippe; Dechezleprêtre, Antoine; Hémous, David; Martin, Ralf; Reenen, John Van

doi:10.1086/684581

Cited by 792 publications

(295 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…To measure the development of ICT, this paper employs a patent-based indicator that is widely used in recent studies on technological innovation [39,40]. For a specific technology domain, the activity of a patent application typically indicates marginal improvements in some technological characteristics over the existing technology.…”

Section: Measurement Of Ict Development: a Patent Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

ICT Development and Sustainable Energy Consumption: A Perspective of Energy Productivity

2018

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Abstract:The information and communication technology (ICT) is closely related to the future of global energy consumption, not only because the ICT equipment itself increasingly consumes energy, but also because it is a general-purpose technology which may affect energy use of almost all sectors. Given the controversy over the net energy-saving effect of ICT, this paper focuses on a new perspective, i.e., energy productivity, to investigate the relationship between ICT development and energy consumption. Using a data panel of 50 economies over the period of 1995 to 2013, results of the Malmquist energy productivity index generally indicate an unbalanced development of energy productivity across the globe, while results of the patent-based ICT knowledge stock indicate a huge gap of ICT development comparing the high-income economies with the others. Furthermore, regression results indicate that ICT development is significantly related to energy productivity improvement. Finally, this paper suggests accelerating ICT development in underdeveloped economies, given the global common task of sustainable energy consumption.

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Section: Measurement Of Ict Development: a Patent Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

ICT Development and Sustainable Energy Consumption: A Perspective of Energy Productivity

2018

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“…Clean technologies are mainly defined as renewable energy, from solar and wind, for example, and transport based on electricity and hydrogen. 3 Aghion et al (2016) find that the number of new patents registered for dirty transportation technologies is higher than for clean ones. The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard (European Commission, 2014) lists companies according to their R&D spending.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Environmental Policy and the Direction of Technical Change

Greaker

Heggedal

Rosendahl

2018

Scandinavian J Economics

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Should governments direct research and development (R&D) away from “dirty” technologies towards “clean” ones? How important is this compared to carbon pricing? We address these questions with the introduction of two model features to the literature on directed technological change and the environment. We introduce decreasing returns to R&D, and allow future carbon taxes to influence current R&D decisions. Our results suggest that governments should prioritize clean R&D. Dealing with major environmental problems requires an R&D shift towards clean technology. However, in the case where most researchers are working with clean technology, both productivity spillovers and the risks of future replacement increase. Consequently, the gap between the private and social values of an innovation is greatest for clean technologies.

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“…A relatively small number of existing empirical studies provide evidence on the relationship between input supplies (or prices) and the direction of tech-nological progress. 4 The main focus of this research has been on the energy sector, where studies by Newell, Jaffe, and Stavins (1999), Popp (2002), and Aghion, Dechezlepretre, Hemous, Martin, and Van Reenen (2012) looked at the impact of high energy prices on energy-saving innovation. 5 The current study differs from previous work in two ways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Input Supplies and Directed Technical Change

Hanlon

2015

Econometrica

100

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The leading theory of directed technical change, developed by Acemoglu (2002), offers two main predictions. First, when inputs are sufficiently substitutable, a change in relative input supplies will generate technical change that augments inputs which become relatively more abundant. Second, if this effect is sufficiently strong, the relative price of the relatively more abundant inputs will increase -the strong induced-bias hypothesis. This paper provides the first empirical test of these predictions using the shock to the British cotton textile industry caused by the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865). Using detailed new patent data, I show that the shock increased innovation in Britain directed towards taking advantage of Indian cotton, which had became relatively more abundant. The relative price of Indian cotton first declined and then rebounded, consistent with strong induced-bias. Given my elasticity of substitution estimates, these findings are consistent with the predictions of the theory.

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Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry

Cited by 792 publications

References 49 publications

ICT Development and Sustainable Energy Consumption: A Perspective of Energy Productivity

ICT Development and Sustainable Energy Consumption: A Perspective of Energy Productivity

Environmental Policy and the Direction of Technical Change

Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Input Supplies and Directed Technical Change

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