Technological Change and the Environment

Adam Jaffe, Richard Newell and Robert Stavins

No 7970, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Environmental policy discussions increasingly focus on issues related to technological change. This is partly because the environmental consequences of social activity are frequently affected by the rate and direction of technological change, and partly because environmental policy interventions can themselves create constraints and incentives that have significant effects on the path of technological progress. This paper, prepared as a chapter draft for the forthcoming Handbook of Environmental Economics (North-Holland/Elsevier Science), summarizes for environmental economists current thinking on technological change in the broader economics literature, surveys the growing economic literature on the interaction between technology and the environment, and explores the normative implications of these analyses. We begin with a brief overview of the economics of technological change, and then examine three important areas where technology and the environment intersect: the theory and empirical evidence of induced innovation and the related literature on the effects of environmental policy on the creation of new, environmentally friendly technology; the theory and empirics of environmental issues related to technology diffusion; and analyses of the comparative technological impacts of alternative environmental policy instruments. We conclude with suggestions for further research on technological change and the environment.

Date: 2000-10
Note: PR EEE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (73)

Published as Jaffe, Adam B., Richard G. Newell and Robert N. Stavins. "Environmental Policy And Technological Change," Environmental and Resource Economics, 2002, v22(1-2,Jun), 41-70.
Published as Jaffe, Adam B. & Newell, Richard G. & Stavins, Robert N., 2003. "Chapter 11 Technological change and the environment," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 461-516 Elsevier.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7970.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Technological Change and the Environment (2001)
Working Paper: Technological Change and the Environment (2000)
Working Paper: Technological Change and the Environment (2000)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7970

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7970

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().