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Innovation Market Failures and the Design of New Climate Policy Instruments

Author

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  • Sarah C. Armitage
  • Noël Bakhtian
  • Adam B. Jaffe

Abstract

Moving beyond the combination of adoption subsidies, standards, and (albeit limited) attempts at carbon pricing that largely characterized US climate policy over the past decade, recent climate-related legislation has transformed not only the scale of US climate activities but also the policy mechanisms adopted. Newly scaled policy instruments—including demonstration projects, loan guarantees, green banks, and regional technology hubs—are motivated not only by unpriced carbon externalities but also by innovation market failures. This paper maps the economics literature on innovation market failures and other frictions to the stated goals of these policy instruments, with the goal of focusing discussions about how to implement these policies as effectively as possible. The paper also discusses how program evaluation can help to illuminate which market failures are most relevant in a particular context and which policy instruments are most targeted to them.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah C. Armitage & Noël Bakhtian & Adam B. Jaffe, 2023. "Innovation Market Failures and the Design of New Climate Policy Instruments," NBER Working Papers 31622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31622
    Note: EEE
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    Cited by:

    1. Pahle, Michael & Quemin, Simon & Osorio, Sebastian & Günther, Claudia & Pietzcker, Robert, 2025. "The emerging endgame: The EU ETS on the road towards climate neutrality," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Hörbe Emanuelsson, Anna & Rootzén, Johan & Johnsson, Filip, 2025. "Financing high-cost measures for deep emission cuts in the basic materials industry – Proposal for a value chain transition fund," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    3. Rammer, Christian & Schubert, Torben & Steines, Leon, 2024. "Studie zu Geschäftsmodellinnovationen im Mittelstand: Abschlussbericht," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 306515.
    4. Sigl-Glöckner, Philippa & Steitz, Janek & Ziesemer, Vinzenz, 2025. "The baseline is wrong: How debt sustainability analyses used in the EU ignore climate change," Papers 317068, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    5. Bauer, Adam Michael & Hallegatte, Stephane & McIsaac, Florent, 2024. "The Timing versus Allocation Trade-off in Politically Constrained Climate Policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10971, The World Bank.
    6. Hoogsteyn, Alexander & Meus, Jelle & Bruninx, Kenneth & Delarue, Erik, 2025. "Interactions and distortions of different support policies for green hydrogen," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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