IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_4680.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impacts of Feed-in Tariffs on Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Böhringer
  • Alexander Cuntz
  • Dietmar Harhoff
  • Emmanuel Asane Otoo

Abstract

Feed-in tariffs under the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the so-called Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG), have triggered a massive expansion of electricity from renewable energy sources in Germany over the last decade. The increase in non-competitive renewable power generation though went hand in hand with a substantial rise in electricity prices with consumers paying for the renewable energy subsidies. The high cost burden has provoked an intense public debate on the benefits of renewable energy promotion. In this paper, we assess one popular justification for feed-in tariffs, i.e., induced innovation as a positive spillover externality. Based on regressions with a time-technology fixed effect negative binomial model, we find that innovation impacts of feed-in tariffs under the EEG are insignificant.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Böhringer & Alexander Cuntz & Dietmar Harhoff & Emmanuel Asane Otoo, 2014. "The Impacts of Feed-in Tariffs on Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 4680, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4680
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp4680.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno & de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Danguy, Jérôme, 2010. "The R&D-patent relationship: An industry perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 8145, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Frondel, Manuel & Ritter, Nolan & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Vance, Colin, 2010. "Economic impacts from the promotion of renewable energy technologies: The German experience," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4048-4056, August.
    3. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & David Popp, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies and Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Patent Counts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 133-155, January.
    4. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hausman, Jerry & Hall, Bronwyn H & Griliches, Zvi, 1984. "Econometric Models for Count Data with an Application to the Patents-R&D Relationship," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(4), pages 909-938, July.
    6. Blundell, Richard & Griffith, Rachel & Van Reenen, John, 1995. "Dynamic Count Data Models of Technological Innovation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(429), pages 333-344, March.
    7. Wu, Ching-Yan & Mathews, John A., 2012. "Knowledge flows in the solar photovoltaic industry: Insights from patenting by Taiwan, Korea, and China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 524-540.
    8. Peters, Michael & Schneider, Malte & Griesshaber, Tobias & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2012. "The impact of technology-push and demand-pull policies on technical change – Does the locus of policies matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1296-1308.
    9. Hélène Dernis & Mosahid Khan, 2004. "Triadic Patent Families Methodology," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2004/2, OECD Publishing.
    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. Arthur Korus, 2016. "Erneuerbare Energien und Leitmärkte in der EU und Deutschland," EIIW Discussion paper disbei225, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    2. Guillaume Bourgeois & Sandrine Mathy & Philippe Menanteau, 2017. "The effect of climate policies on renewable energies : a review of econometric studies [L’effet des politiques climatiques sur les énergies renouvelables : une revue des études économétriques]," Post-Print hal-01585906, HAL.
    3. Cantner, Uwe & Graf, Holger & Herrmann, Johannes & Kalthaus, Martin, 2016. "Inventor networks in renewable energies: The influence of the policy mix in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1165-1184.
    4. Consolación Quintana-Rojo & Fernando-Evaristo Callejas-Albiñana & Miguel-Ángel Tarancón & Isabel Martínez-Rodríguez, 2020. "Econometric Studies on the Development of Renewable Energy Sources to Support the European Union 2020–2030 Climate and Energy Framework: A Critical Appraisal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-26, June.
    5. Mark A. Andor, Manuel Frondel, and Colin Vance, 2017. "Germanys Energiewende: A Tale of Increasing Costs and Decreasing Willingness-To-Pay," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(KAPSARC S).
    6. Samant, Shantala & Thakur-Wernz, Pooja & Hatfield, Donald E., 2020. "Does the focus of renewable energy policy impact the nature of innovation? Evidence from emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    7. Bruns, Stephan B. & Kalthaus, Martin, 2020. "Flexibility in the selection of patent counts: Implications for p-hacking and evidence-based policymaking," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    8. Rexhäuser, Sascha & Löschel, Andreas, 2015. "Invention in energy technologies: Comparing energy efficiency and renewable energy inventions at the firm level," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 206-217.

    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. Böhringer, Christoph & Cuntz, Alexander & Harhoff, Dietmar & Asane-Otoo, Emmanuel, 2017. "The impact of the German feed-in tariff scheme on innovation: Evidence based on patent filings in renewable energy technologies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 545-553.
    2. Grafström, Jonas & Poudineh, Rahmat, 2023. "No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    3. Nesta, Lionel & Vona, Francesco & Nicolli, Francesco, 2014. "Environmental policies, competition and innovation in renewable energy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 396-411.
    4. Bruns, Stephan B. & Kalthaus, Martin, 2020. "Flexibility in the selection of patent counts: Implications for p-hacking and evidence-based policymaking," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    5. Asane-Otoo, Emmanuel, 2014. "The Impacts of Feed-in Tariffs on Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Germany," Conference papers 330221, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Martini, Chiara & Pennacchio, Luca, 2015. "Demand-pull and technology-push public support for eco-innovation: The case of the biofuels sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 577-595.
    7. Hille, Erik & Althammer, Wilhelm & Diederich, Henning, 2020. "Environmental regulation and innovation in renewable energy technologies: Does the policy instrument matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Rik L. Rozendaal & Herman R. J. Vollebergh, 2021. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 9422, CESifo.
    10. Joëlle Noailly & Roger Smeets, 2013. "Directing Technical Change from Fossil-Fuel to Renewable Energy Innovation: An Empirical Application Using Firm-Level Patent Data," CPB Discussion Paper 237, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    11. Lööf, Hans & Perez, Luis & Baum, Christopher F, 2018. "Directed Technical Change in Clean Energy: Evidence from the Solar Industry," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 470, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    12. Lazkano, Itziar & Nøstbakken, Linda & Pelli, Martino, 2017. "From fossil fuels to renewables: The role of electricity storage," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 113-129.
    13. repec:old:wpaper:363 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Martin Kalthaus, 2020. "Knowledge recombination along the technology life cycle," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 643-704, July.
    15. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant, 2014. "Does Foreign Environmental Policy Influence Domestic Innovation? Evidence from the Wind Industry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(3), pages 391-413, July.
    16. 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.
    17. repec:zbw:hohpro:363 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Kruse, Juergen & Wetzel, Heike, 2016. "Innovation in Clean Coal Technologies: Empirical Evidence from Firm-Level Patent Data," EWI Working Papers 2016-1, Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI).
    19. Lin, Boqiang & Chen, Yufang, 2019. "Impacts of policies on innovation in wind power technologies in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 682-691.
    20. 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.
    21. Clement Bonnet, 2020. "Measuring Knowledge with Patent Data: an Application to Low Carbon Energy Technologies," Working Papers hal-02971680, HAL.
    22. Wancong Fu & Chong Li & Jan Ondrich & David Popp, 2018. "Technological Spillover Effects of State Renewable Energy Policy: Evidence from Patent Counts," NBER Working Papers 25390, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    renewable energy promotion; feed-in tariffs; innovation; negative binomial regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    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:ces:ceswps:_4680. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.