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Directed Technical Change in Labor and Environmental Economics

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  • David Hémous

    (Department of Economics, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Morten Olsen

    (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, 1165 Copenhagen, Denmark)

Abstract

It is increasingly evident that the direction of technological change responds to economic incentives. We review the literature on directed technical change in the context of environmental economics and labor economics, and we show that these fields have much in common both theoretically and empirically. We emphasize the importance of a balanced growth path and show that the lack of such a path is closely related to the slow development of green technologies in environmental economics and to growing inequality in labor economics. We discuss whether the direction of innovation is efficient.

Suggested Citation

  • David Hémous & Morten Olsen, 2021. "Directed Technical Change in Labor and Environmental Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 571-597, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reveco:v:13:y:2021:p:571-597
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-economics-092120-044327
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    Cited by:

    1. Jiamin Liu & Xiaoyu Ma & Bin Zhao & Qi Cui & Sisi Zhang & Jiaoning Zhang, 2023. "Mandatory Environmental Regulation, Enterprise Labor Demand and Green Innovation Transformation: A Quasi-Experiment from China’s New Environmental Protection Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-31, July.
    2. Delalibera, Bruno R. & Serrano-Quintero, Rafael & Zimmermann, Guilherme G., 2023. "Reforms in the natural gas sector and economic development," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Jianqing Zhang & Haichao Yu & Keke Zhang & Liang Zhao & Fei Fan, 2021. "Can Innovation Agglomeration Reduce Carbon Emissions? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-24, January.
    4. Ara Jo & Alena Miftakhova, 2022. "How Constant is Constant Elasticity of Substitution? Endogenous Substitution between Clean and Dirty Energy," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 22/369, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    endogenous growth; automation; directed technical change; climate change; income inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation

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