Public R&D and green knowledge diffusion:\r\nEvidence from patent citation data

Gianluca Orsatti

Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) from Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA)

Abstract: The present paper investigates the relationship between public R&D and the diffusion of green knowledge. To do so, we exploit information contained in green patents filed at the European Patent Office from 1980 to 1984. The diffusion of green knowledge is measured by meaning of patent citations. The level of public R&D is instrumented through the policy reaction to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident – that affected the level of public R&D in the energy generation domain – in a difference in differences setting. Results show that a 10% increase in public R&D increases by around 0.7% the number of citations to green patents. Moreover, increasing public R&D fosters the diffusion of green knowledge across traditional (non-green) domains and increases the average technological distance of inventions citing green patents. This evidence suggests that public R&D is a driver of green knowledge diffusion, accelerates the hybridization of traditional innovation processes and fosters technological diversification.

Keywords: Public R&D; Green innovation; Knowledge diffusion; Patent citations; Environmental policy; Green R&D (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O30 O32 O33 O38 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-knm, nep-sbm, nep-tid and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2019-17

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