Induced Innovation, Inventors, and the Energy Transition

Eugenie Dugoua and Todd Gerarden

American Economic Review: Insights, 2025, vol. 7, issue 1, 90-106

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 results strengthen the rationale for government intervention to expedite the energy transition.

JEL-codes: L94 O31 O34 Q35 Q42 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Related works:
Working Paper: Induced innovation, inventors and the energy transition (2023)
Working Paper: Induced Innovation, Inventors, and the Energy Transition (2023)
Working Paper: Induced Innovation, Inventors, and the Energy Transition (2023)
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DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20230522

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