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International energy R&D spillovers and the economics of greenhouse gas atmospheric stabilization

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Author Info
Bosetti, Valentina
Carraro, Carlo
Massetti, Emanuele
Tavoni, Massimo

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Abstract

It is now widely recognized that technological change will play a substantial role in reducing GHG emissions without compromising economic growth; hence, any better understanding of the process of technological innovation is likely to increase our knowledge of mitigation possibilities and costs. This paper explores how international knowledge flows affect the dynamics of the domestic R&D sector and the main economic and environmental variables. The analysis is performed using WITCH, a dynamic regional model of the world economy, in which energy-related technological change is endogenous. The focus is on disembodied energy R&D international spillovers. The knowledge pool from which regions draw foreign ideas differs between High Income and Low Income countries. Absorption capacity is also endogenous in the model. The basic questions are as follows. Do knowledge spillovers enhance energy-related technological innovation in different regions of the world? Does the speed of innovation increase? Or do free-riding incentives prevail and international spillovers crowd out domestic R&D efforts? What is the role of domestic absorption capacity and of policies designed to enhance it? Do greenhouse gas stabilization costs drop in the presence of international technological spillovers? The new specification of the WITCH model presented in this paper enables us to answer these questions. Our analysis shows that international knowledge spillovers tend to increase free-riding incentives and decrease the investments in energy R&D. The strongest cuts in energy R&D investments are recorded among High Income countries, where international knowledge flows crowd out domestic R&D efforts. The overall domestic pool of knowledge, and thus total net GHG stabilization costs, remain largely unaffected. International spillovers, however, are also an important policy channel. We therefore analyze the implication of a policy-mix in which climate policy is combined with a technology policy designed to enhance absorption capacity in Low Income countries. Significant positive impacts on the costs of stabilizing GHG concentrations are singled out. Finally, a sensitivity analysis shows that High Income countries are more responsive than Low Income countries to changes in the parameters. Additional empirical research efforts should thus be focused on the former.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Energy Economics.

Volume (Year): 30 (2008)
Issue (Month): 6 (November)
Pages: 2912-2929
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Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:30:y:2008:i:6:p:2912-2929

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Related research
Keywords: Climate policy Energy R& D International R& D spillovers Stabilization;

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Buchner, Barbara & Carraro, Carlo & Cersosimo, Igor & Marchiori, Carmen, 2002. "Back to Kyoto? US Participation and the Linkage Between R&D and Climate Cooperation," CEPR Discussion Papers 3299, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. d'Aspremont, Claude & Jacquemin, Alexis, 1988. "Cooperative and Noncooperative R&D in Duopoly with Spillovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1133-37, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Ricardo J. Caballero & Adam B. Jaffe, 1993. "How High are the Giants' Shoulders: An Empirical Assessment of Knowledge Spillovers and Creative Destruction in a Model of Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 4370, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Austan Goolsbee, 1998. "Does Government R&D Policy Mainly Benefit Scientists and Engineers?," NBER Working Papers 6532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. repec:att:wimass:199620r is not listed on IDEAS
  7. Barrett, Scott, 1994. "Self-Enforcing International Environmental Agreements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 878-94, Supplemen. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Valentina Bosetti & Carlo Carraro & Marzio Galeotti & Emanuele Massetti & Massimo Tavoni, 2006. "WITCH. A World Induced Technical Change Hybrid Model," Working Papers 2006_46, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Buonanno, Paolo & Carraro, Carlo & Galeotti, Marzio, 2003. "Endogenous induced technical change and the costs of Kyoto," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 11-34, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Kemfert, Claudia, 2005. "Induced technological change in a multi-regional, multi-sectoral, integrated assessment model (WIAGEM): Impact assessment of climate policy strategies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 293-305, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Trajtenberg, M., 1992. "Ivory Tower Versus Corporate Lab : An Empirical Study of Basic Research and Appropriability," Papers 15-92, Tel Aviv.
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  16. Lanjouw, Jean Olson & Mody, Ashoka, 1996. "Innovation and the international diffusion of environmentally responsive technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 549-571, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Rachel Griffith & Stephen Redding & John Van Reenen, 2003. "R&D and Absorptive Capacity: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 105(1), pages 99-118, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1995. "International R&D spillovers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 859-887, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Popp, David, 2004. "ENTICE: endogenous technological change in the DICE model of global warming," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 742-768, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Richard Kneller, 2005. "Frontier Technology, Absorptive Capacity and Distance," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(1), pages 1-23, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Carlo Carraro & Valentina Bosetti & Emanuele Massetti, 2008. "Banking Permits: Economic Efficiency and Distributional Effects," Working Papers 2008_01, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Bosetti, Valentina & Carraro, Carlo & Massetti, Emanuele & Tavoni, Massimo, 2007. "Optimal Energy Investment and R&D Strategies to Stabilise Greenhouse Gas Atmospheric Concentrations," CEPR Discussion Papers 6549, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Valentina Bosetti & Carlo Carraro & Massimo Tavoni, 2008. "Delayed Participation of Developing Countries to Climate Agreements: Should Action in the EU and US be Postponed?," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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