IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v39y2020i4p1100-1132.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Pilot and Demonstration Projects Work? Evidence from a Green Building Program

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher J. Blackburn
  • Mallory E. Flowers
  • Daniel C. Matisoff
  • Juan Moreno‐Cruz

Abstract

Pilot and demonstration (P&D) projects are commonly deployed to catalyze early adoption of technology but are poorly understood in terms of mechanism and impact. We conceptually distinguish unique functions of pilots and demonstrations, then examine whether they accelerate adoption in the case of green building technology. To identify effects on adoption, we develop a difference‐in‐difference‐in‐differences strategy, exploiting variation in timing, location, and technologies of green building P&Ds. Results indicate local quarterly green building adoption rates double following completion of a P&D project. Further analyses examine mechanisms driving this effect. The results suggest green building demonstration projects create learning externalities, proliferating technology diffusion in local markets and through building owner networks. Together, these results suggest that investments in P&D projects by public and private actors can lower costs for subsequent adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher J. Blackburn & Mallory E. Flowers & Daniel C. Matisoff & Juan Moreno‐Cruz, 2020. "Do Pilot and Demonstration Projects Work? Evidence from a Green Building Program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1100-1132, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:39:y:2020:i:4:p:1100-1132
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.22218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22218
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.22218?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hendry, Chris & Harborne, Paul & Brown, James, 2010. "So what do innovating companies really get from publicly funded demonstration projects and trials? innovation lessons from solar photovoltaics and wind," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4507-4519, August.
    2. Hendry, Chris & Harborne, Paul, 2011. "Changing the view of wind power development: More than "bricolage"," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 778-789, June.
    3. Eric von Hippel, 1986. "Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(7), pages 791-805, July.
    4. Lorenzo Cassi & Anne Plunket, 2014. "Proximity, network formation and inventive performance: in search of the proximity paradox," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(2), pages 395-422, September.
    5. Andries De Grip & Jan Sauermann, 2012. "The Effects of Training on Own and Co‐worker Productivity: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(560), pages 376-399, May.
    6. David M. Reiner, 2016. "Learning through a portfolio of carbon capture and storage demonstration projects," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-7, January.
    7. Oriana Bandiera & Imran Rasul, 2006. "Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 869-902, October.
    8. Farzin, Y. H. & Huisman, K. J. M. & Kort, P. M., 1998. "Optimal timing of technology adoption," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 779-799, May.
    9. Matthew J. Kotchen, 2006. "Green Markets and Private Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(4), pages 816-845, August.
    10. Mah, Daphne Ngar-yin & Wu, Yun-Ying & Ip, Jasper Chi-man & Hills, Peter Ronald, 2013. "The role of the state in sustainable energy transitions: A case study of large smart grid demonstration projects in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 726-737.
    11. Bryan Bollinger, 2015. "Green technology adoption: An empirical study of the Southern California garment cleaning industry," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 319-358, December.
    12. Peter J. May & Chris Koski, 2007. "State Environmental Policies: Analyzing Green Building Mandates," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 24(1), pages 49-65, January.
    13. Pence Karen M., 2006. "The Role of Wealth Transformations: An Application to Estimating the Effect of Tax Incentives on Saving," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, July.
    14. Paul Attewell, 1992. "Technology Diffusion and Organizational Learning: The Case of Business Computing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 1-19, February.
    15. David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Peer Effects in Academic Outcomes: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(1), pages 9-23, February.
    16. K. J. Arrow, 1971. "The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: F. H. Hahn (ed.), Readings in the Theory of Growth, chapter 11, pages 131-149, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Jensen, Richard, 1982. "Adoption and diffusion of an innovation of uncertain profitability," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 182-193, June.
    18. Ashenfelter, Orley & Card, David, 1985. "Using the Longitudinal Structure of Earnings to Estimate the Effect of Training Programs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(4), pages 648-660, November.
    19. Nemet, Gregory F. & Zipperer, Vera & Kraus, Martina, 2018. "The valley of death, the technology pork barrel, and public support for large demonstration projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 154-167.
    20. Marcel Fafchamps & Sanjeev Goyal & Marco J. van der Leij, 2010. "Matching and Network Effects," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(1), pages 203-231, March.
    21. Simcoe, Timothy & Toffel, Michael W., 2014. "Government green procurement spillovers: Evidence from municipal building policies in California," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 411-434.
    22. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Udry, 2010. "Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 35-69, March.
    23. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2007. "Public Voluntary Programs Reconsidered," Working Papers 2007-07, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    24. Kahn Matthew E & Vaughn Ryan K., 2009. "Green Market Geography: The Spatial Clustering of Hybrid Vehicles and LEED Registered Buildings," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 1-24, March.
    25. Scharfstein, David S & Stein, Jeremy C, 1990. "Herd Behavior and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 465-479, June.
    26. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Costello, Christopher, 2018. "Maximizing the impact of climate finance: Funding projects or pilot projects?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 270-281.
    27. Stoneman, Paul & Diederen, Paul, 1994. "Technology Diffusion and Public Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(425), pages 918-930, July.
    28. Stephen J. Decanio & William E. Watkins, 1998. "Investment In Energy Efficiency: Do The Characteristics Of Firms Matter?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(1), pages 95-107, February.
    29. Matthew O. Jackson & Leeat Yariv, 2007. "Diffusion of Behavior and Equilibrium Properties in Network Games," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 92-98, May.
    30. Irene Henriques & Bryan W. Husted & Ivan Montiel, 2013. "Spillover Effects of Voluntary Environmental Programs on Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Lessons from Mexico," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 296-322, March.
    31. Daniel C. Matisoff & Douglas S. Noonan & Mallory E. Flowers, 2016. "Policy Monitor—Green Buildings: Economics and Policies," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(2), pages 329-346.
    32. Frank M. Bass, 1969. "A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 215-227, January.
    33. repec:ecj:econjl:v:122:y:2012:i::p:376-399 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Marc F. Bellemare & Casey J. Wichman, 2020. "Elasticities and the Inverse Hyperbolic Sine Transformation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(1), pages 50-61, February.
    35. Tian Tang & David Popp, 2016. "The Learning Process and Technological Change in Wind Power: Evidence from China's CDM Wind Projects," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), pages 195-222, January.
    36. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    37. Doraszelski, Ulrich, 2001. "The net present value method versus the option value of waiting: A note on Farzin, Huisman and Kort (1998)," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1109-1115, August.
    38. Omar Isaac Asensio & Magali A. Delmas, 2017. "The effectiveness of US energy efficiency building labels," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 1-9, April.
    39. Kevin J. Boudreau & Tom Brady & Ina Ganguli & Patrick Gaule & Eva Guinan & Anthony Hollenberg & Karim R. Lakhani, 2017. "A Field Experiment on Search Costs and the Formation of Scientific Collaborations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(4), pages 565-576, July.
    40. Kamp, Linda M. & Smits, Ruud E. H. M. & Andriesse, Cornelis D., 2004. "Notions on learning applied to wind turbine development in the Netherlands and Denmark," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(14), pages 1625-1637, September.
    41. Bryan Bollinger, 2015. "Green technology adoption: An empirical study of the Southern California garment cleaning industry," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 319-358, December.
    42. Bryan Bollinger & Kenneth Gillingham, 2012. "Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Solar Photovoltaic Panels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 900-912, November.
    43. Läpple, Doris & Rensburg, Tom Van, 2011. "Adoption of organic farming: Are there differences between early and late adoption?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1406-1414, May.
    44. Conley, T. G., 1999. "GMM estimation with cross sectional dependence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 1-45, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Zejin Liu & Steven Van de Walle, 2022. "The role of demonstration projects as policy instruments in the development of nonprofit organizations: Beyond instrumentality," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 233-244, October.
    2. Mallory Elise Flowers & Daniel C. Matisoff & Douglas S. Noonan, 2020. "In the LEED: Racing to the Top in Environmental Self‐Regulation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2842-2856, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher J. Blackburn & Mallory E. Flowers & Daniel C. Matisoff & Juan Moreno-Cruz, 2018. "Do Pilot and Demonstration Projects Work?," CESifo Working Paper Series 7252, CESifo.
    2. Bossink, Bart, 2020. "Learning strategies in sustainable energy demonstration projects: What organizations learn from sustainable energy demonstrations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    3. Mira Frick & Yuhta Ishii, 2015. "Innovation Adoption by Forward-Looking Social Learners," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1877, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    4. Fu, Wentao & Le Riche, Antoine, 2021. "Endogenous growth model with Bayesian learning and technology selection," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 58-71.
    5. H. Peyton Young, 2009. "Innovation Diffusion in Heterogeneous Populations: Contagion, Social Influence, and Social Learning," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1899-1924, December.
    6. Bryan Bollinger, 2015. "Green technology adoption: An empirical study of the Southern California garment cleaning industry," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 319-358, December.
    7. Bryan Bollinger, 2015. "Green technology adoption: An empirical study of the Southern California garment cleaning industry," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 319-358, December.
    8. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    9. Vivi Alatas & Abhijit Banerjee & Arun G. Chandrasekhar & Rema Hanna & Benjamin A. Olken, 2016. "Network Structure and the Aggregation of Information: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1663-1704, July.
    10. Xiong, Hang & Payne, Diane & Kinsella, Stephen, 2016. "Peer effects in the diffusion of innovations: Theory and simulation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-13.
    11. Tavneet Suri, 2006. "Selection and Comparative Advantage in Technology Adoption," Working Papers 944, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    12. Eslami, Hossein & Krishnan, Trichy, 2023. "New sustainable product adoption: The role of economic and social factors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    13. H Peyton Young & Lucas Merrill Brown, 2016. "The Diffusion of a Social Innovation: Executive Stock Options from 1936," Economics Series Working Papers 777, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    14. Dunia López-Pintado & Duncan J. Watts, 2008. "Social Influence, Binary Decisions and Collective Dynamics," Rationality and Society, , vol. 20(4), pages 399-443, November.
    15. Zhu, Z.;, 2023. "The Value of Patients: Heterogenous Physician Learning and Generic Drug Diffusion," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/12, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Comin, Diego & Mestieri, Martí, 2014. "Technology Diffusion: Measurement, Causes, and Consequences," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 2, pages 565-622, Elsevier.
    17. He, Pan & Lovo, Stefania & Veronesi, Marcella, 2022. "Social networks and renewable energy technology adoption: Empirical evidence from biogas adoption in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    18. Daniel C. Matisoff & Douglas S. Noonan & Mallory E. Flowers, 2016. "Policy Monitor—Green Buildings: Economics and Policies," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(2), pages 329-346.
    19. Christian Catalini & Catherine Tucker, 2016. "Seeding the S-Curve? The Role of Early Adopters in Diffusion," Working Papers 16-02, NET Institute.
    20. Camilo García-Jimeno & Angel Iglesias & Pinar Yildirim, 2022. "Information Networks and Collective Action: Evidence from the Women's Temperance Crusade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 41-80, January.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jpamgt:v:39:y:2020:i:4:p:1100-1132. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    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.