Policy convergence: A conceptual framework based on lessons from renewable energy policies in the EU

Sebastian Strunz, Erik Gawel, Paul Lehmann and Patrik Söderholm

No 14/2015, UFZ Discussion Papers from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS)

Abstract: The literature on policy convergence has identified numerous aspects and possible causal drivers of convergence. We classify and condense these into a comprehensive framework, which is operationalized for support policies for renewable energy sources in the EU. Our analysis advances the conceptual discussion in two ways. First, we demonstrate that conceptual specifications of convergence (e.g., whether to focus on policy targets, instrument design or policy outcomes) rely on normative assumptions. Second, we argue that theories of economic and political convergence processes complement each other: studies of economic convergence are apolitical as they do not aim to explain why states choose or should choose the same policies to solve a given problem. At the same time, economic convergence yields a necessary condition for successful policy convergence. The empirical evidence, in turn, suggests conditional convergence of support policies and renewables shares in the EU, but does not hint at absolute convergence.

Keywords: economic convergence; policy convergence; renewable energy sources; support policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/125060/1/841277664.pdf (application/pdf)

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:zbw:ufzdps:142015

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in UFZ Discussion Papers from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().