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Can Environmental Policy Encourage Technical Change? Emissions Taxes and R&D Investment in Polluting Firms

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  • James R Brown
  • Gustav Martinsson
  • Christian Thomann

Abstract

Higher country taxes on noxious manufacturing emissions lead to substantial increases in firms’ R&D spending. The R&D response is entirely driven by those high-pollution firms most affected by emissions taxes. Pollution taxes increase the marginal value of R&D spending in polluting firms, even when this spending does not lead to new innovation. Pollution taxes have the strongest effect on R&D investment in sectors in which new invention is difficult to appropriate and outside knowledge is easier to acquire, suggesting an important reason dirty firms invest in R&D is to expand their capacity to absorb external knowledge and technical know-how.

Suggested Citation

  • James R Brown & Gustav Martinsson & Christian Thomann, 2022. "Can Environmental Policy Encourage Technical Change? Emissions Taxes and R&D Investment in Polluting Firms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(10), pages 4518-4560.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:35:y:2022:i:10:p:4518-4560.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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