IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fau/fauart/v59y2009i5p426-441.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Policy Flexibility, Search and Innovation

Author

Abstract

It has long been argued that the implementation of flexible policy instruments, such as environmentally-related taxes and tradable permits, is likely to lead to greater technological innovation than more prescriptive forms of regulation such as technology-based standards. One of the principle reasons for such an assertion is that they give firms stronger incentives to search for the optimal technological means to meet a given environmental objective. While the theoretical case for the use of flexible policy instruments is well-developed, empirical evidence remains limited. Drawing upon a database of “environmental” patent applications from a cross-section of 73 countries over the period 2001–2003, evidence is provided for the positive effect of “flexibility” of environmental policy regime on innovation. This impact is additional to, and distinct from, the effect of policy stringency.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivan Hašèiè & Nick Johnstone & Margarita Kalamova, 2009. "Environmental Policy Flexibility, Search and Innovation," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 59(5), pages 426-441, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:fau:fauart:v:59:y:2009:i:5:p:426-441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journal.fsv.cuni.cz/storage/1168_str_426_441.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Blohmke, Julian & Kemp, René & Türkeli, Serdar, 2016. "Disentangling the causal structure behind environmental regulation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 174-190.
    2. Wilts, Henning & O'Brien, Meghan, 2019. "A Policy Mix for Resource Efficiency in the EU: Key Instruments, Challenges and Research Needs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 59-69.
    3. repec:hal:wpaper:hal-00860045 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Quatraro, Francesco & Scandura, Alessandra, 2019. "Academic Inventors and the Antecedents of Green Technologies. A Regional Analysis of Italian Patent Data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 247-263.
    5. Clément Bonnet, 2017. "Measuring Inventive Performance with Patent Data: an Application to Low Carbon Energy Technologies," Working Papers 1709, Chaire Economie du climat.
    6. Ghisetti, Claudia & Pontoni, Federico, 2015. "Investigating policy and R&D effects on environmental innovation: A meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 57-66.
    7. Rogge, Karoline S. & Reichardt, Kristin, 2016. "Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: An extended concept and framework for analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1620-1635.
    8. Ghisetti, Claudia & Quatraro, Francesco, 2013. "Beyond inducement in climate change: Does environmental performance spur environmental technologies? A regional analysis of cross-sectoral differences," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 99-113.
    9. Clément Bonnet, 2016. "Measuring Knowledge with Patent Data: an Application to Low Carbon Energy Technologies," EconomiX Working Papers 2016-37, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    10. Clement Bonnet, 2020. "Measuring Knowledge with Patent Data: an Application to Low Carbon Energy Technologies," Working Papers hal-02971680, HAL.
    11. Claudia Ghisetti & Francesco Quatraro, 2013. "Beyond inducement in climate change: Does environmental performance spur environmental technologies?," Post-Print hal-00860045, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    environmental policy; innovation; flexibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fau:fauart:v:59:y:2009:i:5:p:426-441. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Natalie Svarcova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/icunicz.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.