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Directed Technical Change in Labor and Environmental Economics

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  • Hémous, David
  • Olsen, Morten

Abstract

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

Suggested Citation

  • Hémous, David & Olsen, Morten, 2021. "Directed Technical Change in Labor and Environmental Economics," CEPR Discussion Papers 15730, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15730
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    Cited by:

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    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Endogenous growth; Automation; Dtc; 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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