IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v30y2019i1p141-155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the knowledge economy advance the green economy? An evaluation of green jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan regions in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Taedong Lee
  • Jeroen van der Heijden

Abstract

Institutions of higher education are significant economic engines and innovative places in local economies: they directly employ large numbers of people, often with well-paying jobs; they are magnets for businesses that service the student population; they educate and often assist students in securing first jobs; and they partner with local organizations and businesses to provide students with hands-on experiences while “giving-back†to the community. In this article, we examine the impact that institutions of higher education have as an engine of growth for the green economy and, specifically, assess their impact on the development of green jobs. Green jobs have been touted as an important strategy to simultaneously address both the economic downturn and environmental degradation. This article empirically assesses the impact that the knowledge economy has on the presence of green jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan regions in the United States. Our findings suggest that enhanced higher education and sustainability-oriented departments and centers have a positive impact on green job development in urban regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Taedong Lee & Jeroen van der Heijden, 2019. "Does the knowledge economy advance the green economy? An evaluation of green jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan regions in the United States," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(1), pages 141-155, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:30:y:2019:i:1:p:141-155
    DOI: 10.1177/0958305X18787300
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958305X18787300
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0958305X18787300?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Consoli, Davide & Marin, Giovanni & Marzucchi, Alberto & Vona, Francesco, 2016. "Do green jobs differ from non-green jobs in terms of skills and human capital?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 1046-1060.
    2. Green, Francis, 2013. "Skills and Skilled Work: An Economic and Social Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199642854.
    3. Francesco Vona & Giovanni Marin & Davide Consoli, 2019. "Measures, drivers and effects of green employment: evidence from US local labor markets, 2006–2014," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 1021-1048.
    4. Ian Bailey & Federico Caprotti, 2014. "The Green Economy: Functional Domains and Theoretical Directions of Enquiry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(8), pages 1797-1813, August.
    5. Sanya Carley, 2011. "The Era of State Energy Policy Innovation: A Review of Policy Instruments," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 28(3), pages 265-294, May.
    6. Rachel M. Krause, 2012. "An Assessment of the Impact that Participation in Local Climate Networks Has on Cities’ Implementation of Climate, Energy, and Transportation Policies," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 29(5), pages 585-604, September.
    7. Llera Sastresa, Eva & Usón, Alfonso Aranda & Bribián, Ignacio Zabalza & Scarpellini, Sabina, 2010. "Local impact of renewables on employment: Assessment methodology and case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 679-690, February.
    8. Mª Ángeles Murga-Menoyo, 2014. "Learning for a Sustainable Economy: Teaching of Green Competencies in the University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-19, May.
    9. D. J. Storey & S. Johnson, 1987. "Job Generation and Labour Market Change," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-18850-5, December.
    10. Yi, Hongtao, 2014. "Green businesses in a clean energy economy: Analyzing drivers of green business growth in U.S. states," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 922-929.
    11. World Bank, 2007. "Building Knowledge Economies : Advanced Strategies for Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6853.
    12. Wei, Max & Patadia, Shana & Kammen, Daniel M., 2010. "Putting renewables and energy efficiency to work: How many jobs can the clean energy industry generate in the US?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 919-931, February.
    13. Mario Piacentini, 2012. "Rationale and policies for the green growth of cities and regional economies," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 129-146, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Elliott, Robert J.R. & Kuai, Wenjing & Maddison, David & Ozgen, Ceren, 2024. "Eco-innovation and (green) employment: A task-based approach to measuring the composition of work in firms," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Bohlmann, H.R. & Horridge, J.M. & Inglesi-Lotz, R. & Roos, E.L. & Stander, L., 2019. "Regional employment and economic growth effects of South Africa’s transition to low-carbon energy supply mix," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 830-837.
    3. Elliott, Robert J. R. & Kuai, Wenjing & Maddison, David & Ozgen, Ceren, 2021. "Eco-Innovation and Employment: A Task-Based Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 14028, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Taedong Lee, 2017. "The effect of clean energy regulations and incentives on green jobs: panel analysis of the United States, 1998–2007," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(3), pages 145-155, August.
    5. Neal D. Woods & Jiyoon Kang & Morgan A. Lowder, 2023. "Do green policies produce green jobs?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(2), pages 153-167, March.
    6. Yi, Hongtao, 2013. "Clean energy policies and green jobs: An evaluation of green jobs in U.S. metropolitan areas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 644-652.
    7. Bluedorn, John & Hansen, Niels-Jakob & Noureldin, Diaa & Shibata, Ippei & Tavares, Marina M., 2023. "Transitioning to a greener labor market: Cross-country evidence from microdata," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Brinkley, Catherine, 2018. "The conundrum of combustible clean energy: Sweden's history of siting district heating smokestacks in residential areas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 526-532.
    10. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6m5kss847r91no96hiublu6anu is not listed on IDEAS
    11. van der Zwaan, Bob & Cameron, Lachlan & Kober, Tom, 2013. "Potential for renewable energy jobs in the Middle East," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 296-304.
    12. Simas, Moana & Pacca, Sergio, 2014. "Assessing employment in renewable energy technologies: A case study for wind power in Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 83-90.
    13. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2019. "Climate policies and skill-biased employment dynamics: Evidence from EU countries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5ahh4t5kfl8nprei89ignlk5nl is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Skills and human capital for the low-carbon transition in developing and emerging economies," FEEM Working Papers 338778, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Rodríguez-Huerta, Edgar & Rosas-Casals, Martí & Sorman, Alevgul H., 2017. "A societal metabolism approach to job creation and renewable energy transitions in Catalonia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 551-564.
    18. Cartelle Barros, Juan José & Lara Coira, Manuel & de la Cruz López, María Pilar & del Caño Gochi, Alfredo, 2017. "Comparative analysis of direct employment generated by renewable and non-renewable power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 542-554.
    19. Bowen, Alex & Kuralbayeva, Karlygash & Tipoe, Eileen L., 2018. "Characterising green employment: The impacts of ‘greening’ on workforce composition," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 263-275.
    20. Guia Bianchi, 2020. "Sustainability competences: A systematic literature review," JRC Research Reports JRC123624, Joint Research Centre.
    21. Francesco Vona, 2019. "Job losses and political acceptability of climate policies: why the ‘job-killing’ argument is so persistent and how to overturn it," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 524-532, April.
    22. Jenniches, Simon, 2018. "Assessing the regional economic impacts of renewable energy sources – A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 35-51.
    23. Barbieri, Nicolò & Consoli, Davide, 2019. "Regional diversification and green employment in US metropolitan areas," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 693-705.
    24. Bachmann, Ronald & Janser, Markus & Lehmer, Florian & Vonnahme, Christina, 2024. "Disentangling the greening of the labour market: The role of changing occupations and worker flows," Ruhr Economic Papers 1099, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    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:sae:engenv:v:30:y:2019:i:1:p:141-155. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.