The effects of environmental policy on technological change in pollution control.

摘要

An extensive literature (e.g., Downing and White [7], Milliman and Prince [24]) examines the role of environmental policy in encouraging (or discouraging) innovation in pollution control. This dissertation critiques this literature, identifies important shortcomings, and develops alternative approaches that facilitate the analysis of a wider range of policy instruments (such as limitations on emissions per unit output) and potential innovations (such as production process innovations). These alternative approaches are used to (1) show that economic instruments do not always provide stronger incentives for innovation than command-and-control policies, and (2) generalize previous analyses by considering innovations in production processes in addition to innovations in end-of-pipe abatement technologies.