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Environmental policy, technology adoption and the size distribution of firms

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  • Coria, Jessica
  • Kyriakopoulou, Efthymia

Abstract

The potential impacts of strict environmental policies on production costs and firms' competitiviness are central to the choice of which policy to implement. However, not all the industries nor all firms within an industry are affected in the same way. In this paper, we investigate the effects of emission taxes, uniform emission standards, and performance standards on the size distribution of firms. Our results indicate that, unlike emission taxes and performance standards, emission standards introduce regulatory asymmetries favoring small firms. On the contrary, emission taxes and performance standards reduce to a lower extent profits of larger firms but they do modify the optimal scale of firms. We also show that when the regulatory asymmetries created by emissions standards are taken into account, the profitability of emissions reducing technologies is higher under emission standards than under market-based instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Coria, Jessica & Kyriakopoulou, Efthymia, 2018. "Environmental policy, technology adoption and the size distribution of firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 470-485.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:72:y:2018:i:c:p:470-485
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2018.04.025
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    Cited by:

    1. Geng, Yong & Liu, Wei & Li, Kai & Chen, Hanshu, 2021. "Environmental regulation and corporate tax avoidance: A quasi-natural experiment based on the eleventh Five-Year Plan in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. He, Zhenyu & Tang, Yuwei, 2023. "Local environmental constraints and firms’ export product quality: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Santosh Kumar Sahu & Prantik Bagchi & Ajay Kumar & Kim Hua Tan, 2022. "Technology, price instruments and energy intensity: a study of firms in the manufacturing sector of the Indian economy," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 313(1), pages 319-339, June.
    4. Alan Finkelstein Shapiro & Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2021. "The Macroeconomic Effects of a Carbon Tax to Meet the U.S. Paris Agreement Target: The Role of Firm Creation and Technology Adoption," NBER Working Papers 28795, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Dardati, Evangelina & Saygili, Meryem, 2020. "Aggregate impacts of cap-and-trade programs with heterogeneous firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    6. Finkelstein Shapiro, Alan & Metcalf, Gilbert E., 2023. "The macroeconomic effects of a carbon tax to meet the U.S. Paris agreement target: The role of firm creation and technology adoption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    7. Christian Balcells, 2022. "Determinants of firm boundaries and organizational performance: an empirical investigation of the Chilean truck market," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 423-461, April.
    8. Hamaguchi, Yoshihiro, 2023. "Environmental tax evasion as a determinant of the Porter and pollution haven hypotheses in a corrupt political system," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 610-633.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental regulations; Energy efficiency; Size distribution; Emission taxes; Emission standards; Performance standards;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation

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