IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v51y2022i7s0048733322000671.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The heterogeneous effects of environmental taxation on green technologies

Author

Listed:
  • Tchorzewska, K.B.
  • Garcia-Quevedo, J.
  • Martinez-Ros, E.

Abstract

This paper analyses the effectiveness of environmental taxation in stimulating the adoption of end-of-pipe and cleaner production technologies across manufacturing and mining firms between 2008 and 2014. We perform simple and categorical treatment matching of firms to study the heterogeneous effects of different taxation levels. We assess the effects between firms forced to pay environmental taxation (treated) and those that did not have to pay such taxes (controls), as well as between different levels of environmental taxation (small, medium, large). We find that low levels of environmental taxation are ineffective at stimulating green technology adoption. As the taxation level increases, so does the associated effect on green technology investment. Additionally, we find that even low levels of environmental taxation can be effective when combined with public financing. In this case, the effect is stronger than that of providing public financing alone.

Suggested Citation

  • Tchorzewska, K.B. & Garcia-Quevedo, J. & Martinez-Ros, E., 2022. "The heterogeneous effects of environmental taxation on green technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(7).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:51:y:2022:i:7:s0048733322000671
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2022.104541
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733322000671
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2022.104541?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    2. Mohnen, Pierre & Roller, Lars-Hendrik, 2005. "Complementarities in innovation policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1431-1450, August.
    3. Philippe Aghion & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & David Hémous & Ralf Martin & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 1-51.
    4. Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon & Henry G. Overman, 2011. "Assessing the Effects of Local Taxation using Microgeographic Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(555), pages 1017-1046, September.
    5. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Misato Sato, 2017. "The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Competitiveness," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 183-206.
    6. Triguero, Angela & Moreno-Mondéjar, Lourdes & Davia, María A., 2013. "Drivers of different types of eco-innovation in European SMEs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 25-33.
    7. Daron Acemoglu & Ufuk Akcigit & Douglas Hanley & William Kerr, 2016. "Transition to Clean Technology," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 52-104.
    8. Ivan Haščič & Frans de Vries & Nick Johnstone & Neelakshi Medhi, 2009. "Effects of environmental policy on the type of innovation: The case of automotive emission-control technologies," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2009(1), pages 1-18.
    9. Adam B. Jaffe et al., 1995. "Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 132-163, March.
    10. Martin, Ralf & de Preux, Laure B. & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2014. "The impact of a carbon tax on manufacturing: Evidence from microdata," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-14.
    11. Manuel Frondel & Jens Horbach & Klaus Rennings, 2007. "End‐of‐pipe or cleaner production? An empirical comparison of environmental innovation decisions across OECD countries," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(8), pages 571-584, December.
    12. Demirel, Pelin & Kesidou, Effie, 2011. "Stimulating different types of eco-innovation in the UK: Government policies and firm motivations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1546-1557, June.
    13. Jaume Freire-González & Mun S. Ho, 2018. "Environmental Fiscal Reform and the Double Dividend: Evidence from a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, February.
    14. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    15. Xavier Labandeira & José M. Labeaga & Xiral López-Otero, 2019. "New Green Tax Reforms: Ex-Ante Assessments for Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-25, October.
    16. Guerzoni, Marco & Raiteri, Emilio, 2015. "Demand-side vs. supply-side technology policies: Hidden treatment and new empirical evidence on the policy mix," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 726-747.
    17. Popp, David, 2006. "International innovation and diffusion of air pollution control technologies: the effects of NOX and SO2 regulation in the US, Japan, and Germany," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 46-71, January.
    18. Fischer, Carolyn & Parry, Ian W. H. & Pizer, William A., 2003. "Instrument choice for environmental protection when technological innovation is endogenous," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 523-545, May.
    19. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August.
    20. Greenstone, Michael, 2004. "Did the Clean Air Act cause the remarkable decline in sulfur dioxide concentrations?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 585-611, May.
    21. Roland Rathelot & Patrick Sillard, 2008. "The Importance of Local Corporate Taxes in Business Location Decisions: Evidence From French Micro Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(527), pages 499-514, March.
    22. Marino, Marianna & Lhuillery, Stephane & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Sala, Davide, 2016. "Additionality or crowding-out? An overall evaluation of public R&D subsidy on private R&D expenditure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1715-1730.
    23. Bia, Michela & Mattei, Alessandra, 2007. "Application of the Generalized Propensity Score. Evaluation of public contributions to Piedmont enterprises," POLIS Working Papers 80, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    24. Christoph Böhringer, Xaquin Garcia-Muros, and Mikel González-Eguino, 2019. "Greener and Fairer: A Progressive Environmental Tax Reform for Spain," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    25. Almus, Matthias & Czarnitzki, Dirk, 2003. "The Effects of Public R&D Subsidies on Firms' Innovation Activities: The Case of Eastern Germany," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 21(2), pages 226-236, April.
    26. Steven Sorrell, 2003. "Carbon Trading in the Policy Mix," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 420-437.
    27. Sergio Afcha & Jose García-Quevedo, 2016. "The impact of R&D subsidies on R&D employment composition," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(6), pages 955-975.
    28. García-Quevedo, Jose & Jové-Llopis, Elisenda, 2021. "Environmental policies and energy efficiency investments. An industry-level analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    29. Uyarra, Elvira & Shapira, Philip & Harding, Alan, 2016. "Low carbon innovation and enterprise growth in the UK: Challenges of a place-blind policy mix," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 264-272.
    30. King, Gary & Nielsen, Richard, 2019. "Why Propensity Scores Should Not Be Used for Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 435-454, October.
    31. Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2015. "Emissions Taxes and Abatement Regulation Under Uncertainty," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(1), pages 17-35, January.
    32. Bruno S. Frey & Reto Jegen, 2001. "Motivation Crowding Theory," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 589-611, December.
    33. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Palma, Alessandro, 2017. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation: A patent analysis of energy-efficient technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 799-819.
    34. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    35. Flanagan, Kieron & Uyarra, Elvira & Laranja, Manuel, 2011. "Reconceptualising the 'policy mix' for innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 702-713, June.
    36. Bakhtiari, Sasan, 2018. "Coming Out Clean: Australian Carbon Pricing and Clean Technology Adoption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 238-246.
    37. Horbach, Jens, 2008. "Determinants of environmental innovation--New evidence from German panel data sources," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 163-173, February.
    38. Mardones, Cristian & Flores, Belén, 2018. "Effectiveness of a CO2 tax on industrial emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 370-382.
    39. Yamazaki, Akio, 2017. "Jobs and climate policy: Evidence from British Columbia's revenue-neutral carbon tax," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 197-216.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dong, Zhaoyingzi & Liu, Haijing & Zhang, Weiwen, 2024. "The effect of information disclosure on low-carbon innovation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    2. Kinga B. Tchorzewska, 2024. "A Lost Opportunity? Environmental Investment Tax Incentive and Energy Efficient Technologies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(12), pages 3301-3333, December.
    3. Viktor Koval & Olga Laktionova & Iryna Udovychenko & Piotr Olczak & Svitlana Palii & Liudmyla Prystupa, 2022. "Environmental Taxation Assessment on Clean Technologies Reducing Carbon Emissions Cost-Effectively," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.
    4. You, Zhuoying & Teirlinck, Peter, 2024. "Specialization in climate technologies at the regional level in Europe: relatedness and the moderating role of policy direction," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    5. Zhaojun Qu & Fei Sun & Qitao Wu, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Policies to obtain energy transformation target: evidence from emission accounting impacts," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Shenggang Ren & Donghua Liu & Ji Yan, 2024. "How Officials’ Political Incentives Influence Corporate Green Innovation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(3), pages 633-653, October.
    7. Reni Pantcheva, 2023. "Circular Use of Materials: Drivers of the Circularity Rate in the European Union," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 148-161.
    8. Jin, Youliang & Wang, Shujuan & Cheng, Xu & Zeng, Huixiang, 2024. "Can environmental tax reform curb corporate environmental violations? A quasi-natural experiment based on China's “environmental fees to taxes”," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    9. Fusillo, Fabrizio & Orsatti, Gianluca & Scandura, Alessandra, 2024. "Public Green Demand and Green Innovation: Evidence from US Firms," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202407, University of Turin.
    10. Gao, Jingyi & Ren, Yuanming, 2023. "Does innovation save more energy? Evidence from Chinese Firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 638-646.
    11. Xin Jiang & Guanglong Li & Xianxian Fan, 2023. "Environmental Protection Fee-to-Tax and Corporate Environmental Social Responsibility: A Test Based on Corporate Life Cycle Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabrizi, Andrea & Guarini, Giulio & Meliciani, Valentina, 2018. "Green patents, regulatory policies and research network policies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1018-1031.
    2. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Palma, Alessandro, 2017. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation: A patent analysis of energy-efficient technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 799-819.
    3. Raphael Calel, 2020. "Adopt or Innovate: Understanding Technological Responses to Cap-and-Trade," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 170-201, August.
    4. Quatraro, Francesco & Scandura, Alessandra, 2019. "Academic Inventors and the Antecedents of Green Technologies. A Regional Analysis of Italian Patent Data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 247-263.
    5. Rogge, Karoline S. & Schleich, Joachim, 2018. "Do policy mix characteristics matter for low-carbon innovation? A survey-based exploration of renewable power generation technologies in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1639-1654.
    6. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Alessandro Palma, 2015. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation in energy-efficient technologies," SEEDS Working Papers 1115, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jun 2015.
    7. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Paglialunga, Elena & Sforna, Giorgia, 2020. "System transition and structural change processes in the energy efficiency of residential sector: Evidence from EU countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 309-329.
    8. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    9. Takahiko Kiso, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Induced Technological Change: Evidence from Automobile Fuel Economy Regulations," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(2), pages 785-810, October.
    10. Cameron Hepburn & Jacquelyn Pless & David Popp, 2018. "Policy Brief—Encouraging Innovation that Protects Environmental Systems: Five Policy Proposals," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 12(1), pages 154-169.
    11. Aldieri, Luigi & Kotsemir, Maxim & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2017. "Jacobian spillovers in environmental technological proximity: the role of Mahalanobis index on European patents within the Triad," MPRA Paper 77274, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Triguero, Angela & Moreno-Mondéjar, Lourdes & Davia, María A., 2014. "The influence of energy prices on adoption of clean technologies and recycling: Evidence from European SMEs," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 246-257.
    13. Kinga B. Tchorzewska, 2024. "A Lost Opportunity? Environmental Investment Tax Incentive and Energy Efficient Technologies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(12), pages 3301-3333, December.
    14. Sanni, Maruf, 2018. "Drivers of eco-innovation in the manufacturing sector of Nigeria," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 303-314.
    15. Ghisetti, Claudia & Pontoni, Federico, 2015. "Investigating policy and R&D effects on environmental innovation: A meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 57-66.
    16. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," NBER Working Papers 25631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Davide Antonioli & Grazia Cecere & Massimiliano Mazzanti, 2018. "Information communication technologies and environmental innovations in firms: joint adoptions and productivity effects," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(11), pages 1905-1933, September.
    18. Lorena D’Agostino, 2015. "How MNEs respond to environmental regulation: integrating the Porter hypothesis and the pollution haven hypothesis," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 32(2), pages 245-269, August.
    19. Brouillat, Eric & Saint Jean, Maïder, 2020. "Mind the gap: Investigating the impact of implementation gaps on cleaner technology transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    20. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental policy and innovation: a decade of research," CESifo Working Paper Series 7544, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental taxation; Doses; Policy-mix; Green technologies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:51:y:2022:i:7:s0048733322000671. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.