IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v205y2025ics0301421525002009.html

The governmental origins of American innovation in clean technologies

Author

Listed:
  • Wittstock, Nicolas

Abstract

Why is the US so productive in the invention of clean technology, despite relatively weak federal climate policy, deemed critical to provide incentives for related R&D investments? I argue that federal innovation policy actively pursued clean technology with renewed force since the early 2000s. Related policy has often been internal to federal agencies and not directly motivated by climate-related considerations. Concerns over energy security and demand for alternative energy technology by the Department of Defense (DoD) shifted federal R&D initiatives in favor of clean technologies in the early 2000s. The resulting initiatives have substantially impacted aggregate rates of invention in targeted technology classes. To make this case, I present a network analysis of over 140,000 patents and over 1.7 m patent citations, demonstrating that federal agencies have been the most important sources of invention within the US clean technology ecosystem since 2000. This study complicates the notion of the US as a climate policy laggard and demonstrates how state preferences over technology continue to shape the trajectory of innovation in the American political economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Wittstock, Nicolas, 2025. "The governmental origins of American innovation in clean technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:205:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525002009
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114693
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421525002009
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114693?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barry G. Rabe, 2008. "States on Steroids: The Intergovernmental Odyssey of American Climate Policy," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 25(2), pages 105-128, March.
    2. Kathryn Harrison & Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, 2007. "The Comparative Politics of Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 7(4), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Jacob Moscona & James A. Robinson, 2016. "State Capacity and American Technology: Evidence from the 19th Century," NBER Working Papers 21932, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Barry Rabe, 2011. "Contested Federalism and American Climate Policy," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 494-521, Summer.
    5. Rebecca Henderson & Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 1998. "Universities As A Source Of Commercial Technology: A Detailed Analysis Of University Patenting, 1965-1988," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(1), pages 119-127, February.
    6. Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2025. "Moonshot: Public R&D and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(9), pages 2891-2925, September.
    7. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    8. David Popp, 2002. "Induced Innovation and Energy Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 160-180, March.
    9. Manuel Trajtenberg & Adam B. Jaffe & Michael S. Fogarty, 2000. "Knowledge Spillovers and Patent Citations: Evidence from a Survey of Inventors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 215-218, May.
    10. 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 Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1993, Volume 8, pages 15-86, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Umstattd, Ryan J., 2009. "Future energy efficiency improvements within the US department of defense: Incentives and barriers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2870-2880, August.
    12. Trachtman, Samuel, 2020. "What drives climate policy adoption in the U.S. states?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    13. Hunter, David R. & Handcock, Mark S. & Butts, Carter T. & Goodreau, Steven M. & Morris, Martina, 2008. "ergm: A Package to Fit, Simulate and Diagnose Exponential-Family Models for Networks," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 24(i03).
    14. Michaël Aklin & Matto Mildenberger, 2020. "Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma: Why Distributive Conflict, Not Collective Action, Characterizes the Politics of Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 4-27, Autumn.
    15. Zoltan J. Acs & Luc Anselin & Attila Varga, 2008. "Patents and Innovation Counts as Measures of Regional Production of New Knowledge," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 11, pages 135-151, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Jacob Moscona & James A. Robinson, 2016. "State Capacity and American Technology: Evidence from the Nineteenth Century," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 61-67, May.
    17. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    18. Jiafeng Chen & Jonathan Roth, 2024. "Logs with Zeros? Some Problems and Solutions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 139(2), pages 891-936.
    19. Popp, David & Newell, Richard G. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2010. "Energy, the Environment, and Technological Change," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 873-937, Elsevier.
    20. Parrish Bergquist & Christopher Warshaw, 2023. "How climate policy commitments influence energy systems and the economies of US states," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Martin, Ralf & Mohnen, Myra, 2014. "Knowledge spillovers from clean and dirty technologies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60501, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Rik Rozendaal & Herman Vollebergh, 2025. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 565-598.
    3. 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.
    4. Philippe Aghion & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & David Hémous & Ralf Martin & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 1-51.
    5. Joëlle Noailly & Victoria Shestalova, 2013. "Knowledge spillovers from renewable energy technologies, Lessons from patent citations," CPB Discussion Paper 262, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Joelle Noailly & Victoria Shestalova, 2013. "Knowledge Spillovers from Renewable energy Technologies, Lessons from patent citations," CIES Research Paper series 22-2013, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.
    7. Verdolini, Elena & Galeotti, Marzio, 2011. "At home and abroad: An empirical analysis of innovation and diffusion in energy technologies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 119-134, March.
    8. Feng, Siyu & Lazkano, Itziar, 2022. "Innovation trends in electricity storage: What drives global innovation?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Gianluca ORSATTI, 2019. "Public R&D and green knowledge diffusion:\r\nEvidence from patent citation data," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2019-17, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    10. Hsu, David W.L. & Yuan, Benjamin J.C., 2013. "Knowledge creation and diffusion of Taiwan's universities: Knowledge trajectory from patent data," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 172-181.
    11. Bettarelli, Luca & Furceri, Davide & Pizzuto, Pietro & Shakoor, Nadia, 2025. "Do climate policies affect green patenting patterns?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Ghisetti, Claudia & Quatraro, Francesco, 2017. "Green Technologies and Environmental Productivity: A Cross-sectoral Analysis of Direct and Indirect Effects in Italian Regions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1-13.
    13. Jee, Su Jung & Srivastav, Sugandha, 2024. "Knowledge spillovers between clean and dirty technologies: Evidence from the patent citation network," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    14. Bjørner, Thomas Bue & Mackenhauer, Janne, 2013. "Spillover from private energy research," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 171-190.
    15. Zhang, Feng & Jiang, Guohua & Cantwell, John A., 2015. "Subsidiary exploration and the innovative performance of large multinational corporations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 224-234.
    16. Francesco Nicolli & Francesco Vona & Lionel Nesta, 2012. "Determinants of Renewable Energy Innovation: Environmental Policies vs. Market Regulation," Working Papers 201204, University of Ferrara, Department of Economics.
    17. Bretschger, Lucas & Lechthaler, Filippo & Rausch, Sebastian & Zhang, Lin, 2017. "Knowledge diffusion, endogenous growth, and the costs of global climate policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 47-72.
    18. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    19. aus dem Moore, Nils & Brehm, Johannes & Gruhl, Henri, 2025. "Driving innovation? Carbon tax effects in the Swedish transport sector," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    20. Giovanni Marin & Francesca Lotti, 2017. "Productivity effects of eco-innovations using data on eco-patents," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(1), pages 125-148.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:enepol:v:205:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525002009. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.