Do federal regulations beget innovation? Legislative policy and the role of executive orders

Olga Smirnova, Deborah Strumsky and Ashley C. Qualls

Energy Policy, 2021, vol. 158, issue C

Abstract: Our research note focuses on whether policy changes in the transportation sector contribute to green innovations, measured as patents. We explore federal policies, specifically energy policies such as Energy Policy Act of 1992 or 2005, that provide incentives for the development of environmentally friendly technologies in transportation. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, we construct and test several novel policy measures while controlling for other factors that may influence green transportation innovations. We develop a unique legislative timeline with the use of key-informant interviews, literature searches, and legislative updates reviews. Only one policy variable (executive orders) appears to have a positive effect on the number of patents in green transportation innovation sphere. High capital expenditures for pollution abatement decrease innovation activity, while high operating expenditures increase innovation activity. The federal policies over the time period analyzed seem to create uncertainty rather than provide a clear incentive for innovation. The executive orders may affect innovation levels; further tests are needed with the changes in political leadership. The results of our research note signal that stronger and more consistent incentives at federal level may be necessary to realize desired policy outcomes.

Keywords: Transportation innovation; Patents; Executive orders; Policy impacts; Abatement costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421521004407
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
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:eee:enepol:v:158:y:2021:i:c:s0301421521004407

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112570

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().