Induced Innovation, Inventors, and the Energy Transition
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Series
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Speaker(s)Eugenie Dugoua (London School of Economics, UK)
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FieldSpatial Economics
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LocationTinbergen Institute, room 1.01
Amsterdam -
Date and time
March 07, 2024
12:00 - 13:00
Abstract
We study how individual inventors respond to incentives to work on “clean” electricity technologies. Using natural gas price variation, we estimate output and entry elasticities of inventors and measure the medium-term impacts of a price increase mirroring the social cost of carbon. We find that the induced clean innovation response primarily comes from existing clean inventors. New inventors are less responsive on the margin than their average contribution to clean energy patenting would indicate. Our findings highlight the potential importance of policies that increase the supply of clean inventors who are focused on mitigating climate change.