IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sru/ssewps/2018-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Financial Constraints Hamper Environmental Innovation Diffusion? An Agent-Based Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Paola D’Orazio

    (Lehrstuhl für Makroökonomik, Faculty of Economics and Management, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum (Germany).)

  • Marco Valente

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale e dell’Informazione e di Economia, University of L’Aquila (Italy); LEM Sant’Anna, Pisa (Italy); SPRU, University of Sussex (UK) and Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany).)

Abstract

We develop a model that combines evolutionary economics concepts and methods with environmental economics concerns. The model is populated by consumers, heterogeneous firms, and a financial sector and is used to investigate the dynamic interactions between the demand and supply side, and the role played by binding financial constraints, in the diffusion of environmental innovations. The aim of the model is to understand how environmental goals can be effectively promoted and achieved in presence of a financial sector whose lending attitude is guided by long-termism rather than shorttermism. We show that financial constraints act as a deterring barrier and affect firms’ innovation strategies as well as the evolution of technological paradigms. When financial constraints are less binding, firms do not perceive hindrances to the adoption of eco-innovation and, as a result, the presence of the average green technology in the market increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Paola D’Orazio & Marco Valente, 2018. "Do Financial Constraints Hamper Environmental Innovation Diffusion? An Agent-Based Approach," SPRU Working Paper Series 2018-10, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sru:ssewps:2018-10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=2018-10-swps-dorazio-and-valente.pdf&site=25
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Balint, T. & Lamperti, F. & Mandel, A. & Napoletano, M. & Roventini, A. & Sapio, A., 2017. "Complexity and the Economics of Climate Change: A Survey and a Look Forward," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 252-265.
    2. André Lorentz & Tommaso Ciarli & Maria Savona & Marco Valente, 2016. "The effect of demand-driven structural transformations on growth and technological change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 219-246, March.
    3. Wander Jager & Marco A. Janssen, 2002. "Stimulating diffusion of green products," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 283-306.
    4. Frederique Savignac, 2008. "Impact Of Financial Constraints On Innovation: What Can Be Learned From A Direct Measure?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(6), pages 553-569.
    5. Campiglio, Emanuele, 2016. "Beyond carbon pricing: The role of banking and monetary policy in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 220-230.
    6. Vos, Ed & Yeh, Andy Jia-Yuh & Carter, Sara & Tagg, Stephen, 2007. "The happy story of small business financing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 2648-2672, September.
    7. Robert G. King & Ross Levine, 1993. "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 717-737.
    8. Gérard Weisbuch & Vincent Buskens & Luat Vuong, 2008. "Heterogeneity and increasing returns may drive socio-economic transitions," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 376-390, December.
    9. Frenken, Koen & Silverberg, Gerald & Valente, Marco, 2008. "A percolation model of the product lifecycle," MERIT Working Papers 2008-073, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    10. Richard Nelson & Davide Consoli, 2010. "An evolutionary theory of household consumption behavior," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 665-687, October.
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5qr7f0k4sk8rbq4do5u6v70rm0 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Mariana Mazzucato & Caetano C.R. Penna, 2016. "Beyond market failures: the market creating and shaping roles of state investment banks," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 305-326, October.
    14. Dosi, Giovanni & Fagiolo, Giorgio & Roventini, Andrea, 2010. "Schumpeter meeting Keynes: A policy-friendly model of endogenous growth and business cycles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1748-1767, September.
    15. ., 2017. "The nature and evolution of econometrics," Chapters, in: Econometrics as a Con Art, chapter 1, pages 1-30, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Alessandro Caiani & Antoine Godin & Stefano Lucarelli, 2015. "Innovation and Finance: A Stock Flow Consistent Analysis of Great Surges of Development," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & John Foster (ed.), The Evolution of Economic and Innovation Systems, edition 127, pages 401-430, Springer.
    17. Rennings, Klaus, 2000. "Redefining innovation -- eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 319-332, February.
    18. Tesfatsion, Leigh & Judd, Kenneth L., 2006. "Handbook of Computational Economics, Vol. 2: Agent-Based Computational Economics," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10368, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    19. Claudia Ghisetti & Susanna Mancinelli & Massimiliano Mazzanti & Mariangela Zoli, 2017. "Financial barriers and environmental innovations: evidence from EU manufacturing firms," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(0), pages 131-147, June.
    20. Metcalf, Gilbert E., 2009. "Tax Policies for Low-Carbon Technologies," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(3), pages 519-533, September.
    21. Giovanni Marin & Alberto Marzucchi & Roberto Zoboli, 2015. "SMEs and barriers to Eco-innovation in the EU: exploring different firm profiles," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 671-705, July.
    22. Tesfatsion, Leigh, 2006. "Agent-Based Computational Economics: A Constructive Approach to Economic Theory," Handbook of Computational Economics, in: Leigh Tesfatsion & Kenneth L. Judd (ed.), Handbook of Computational Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 831-880, Elsevier.
    23. Paul Windrum & Chris Birchenhall, 2005. "Structural change in the presence of network externalities: a co-evolutionary model of technological successions," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 123-148, January.
    24. Elmar Kiesling & Markus Günther & Christian Stummer & Lea Wakolbinger, 2012. "Agent-based simulation of innovation diffusion: a review," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 20(2), pages 183-230, June.
    25. Kemp, René & Pontoglio, Serena, 2011. "The innovation effects of environmental policy instruments — A typical case of the blind men and the elephant?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 28-36.
    26. Richard R. Nelson, 1959. "The Simple Economics of Basic Scientific Research," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 297-297.
    27. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hottenrott, Hanna, 2017. "Inter-organizational collaboration and financing constraints for R&D," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 15-18.
    28. Mariana Mazzucato, 2013. "Financing innovation: creative destruction vs. destructive creation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(4), pages 851-867, August.
    29. King, Robert G. & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance, entrepreneurship and growth: Theory and evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 513-542, December.
    30. Mariana Mazzucato, 2015. "The Green Entrepreneurial State," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-28, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    31. Martin Hohnisch & Sabine Pittnauer & Dietrich Stauffer, 2008. "A percolation-based model explaining delayed takeoff in new-product diffusion," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(5), pages 1001-1017, October.
    32. Leigh Tesfatsion & Kenneth L. Judd (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of Computational Economics," Handbook of Computational Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    33. Maria Luisa Mancusi & Andrea Vezzulli, 2010. "R&D, Innovation and Liquidity Constraints," KITeS Working Papers 030, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised May 2010.
    34. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    35. Marco Valente, 2012. "Evolutionary demand: a model for boundedly rational consumers," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 1029-1080, November.
    36. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    37. Faber, Albert & Valente, Marco & Janssen, Peter, 2010. "Exploring domestic micro-cogeneration in the Netherlands: An agent-based demand model for technology diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2763-2775, June.
    38. Adam Jaffe & Richard Newell & Robert Stavins, 2002. "Environmental Policy and Technological Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 22(1), pages 41-70, June.
    39. Gatti, Domenico Delli & Guilmi, Corrado Di & Gaffeo, Edoardo & Giulioni, Gianfranco & Gallegati, Mauro & Palestrini, Antonio, 2005. "A new approach to business fluctuations: heterogeneous interacting agents, scaling laws and financial fragility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 489-512, April.
    40. D’Este, Pablo & Iammarino, Simona & Savona, Maria & von Tunzelmann, Nick, 2012. "What hampers innovation? Revealed barriers versus deterring barriers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 482-488.
    41. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Mariana Mazzucato & Caetano C.R. Penna, 2016. "Beyond market failures: the market creating and shaping roles of state investment banks," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 305-326, October.
    43. Richard C. Koo, 2013. "Balance sheet recession as the ‘other half’ of macroeconomics," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 10(2), pages 136-157.
    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. D’Orazio, Paola & Valente, Marco, 2019. "The role of finance in environmental innovation diffusion: An evolutionary modeling approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 417-439.
    2. Yanhong Liu & Jia Lei & Yihua Zhang, 2021. "A Study on the Sustainable Relationship among the Green Finance, Environment Regulation and Green-Total-Factor Productivity in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-27, October.
    3. Juana Castro & Stefan Drews & Filippos Exadaktylos & Joël Foramitti & Franziska Klein & Théo Konc & Ivan Savin & Jeroen van den Bergh, 2020. "A review of agent‐based modeling of climate‐energy policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), July.

    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. D’Orazio, Paola & Valente, Marco, 2019. "The role of finance in environmental innovation diffusion: An evolutionary modeling approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 417-439.
    2. Balint, T. & Lamperti, F. & Mandel, A. & Napoletano, M. & Roventini, A. & Sapio, A., 2017. "Complexity and the Economics of Climate Change: A Survey and a Look Forward," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 252-265.
    3. Dosi, Giovanni & Fagiolo, Giorgio & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea & Treibich, Tania, 2015. "Fiscal and monetary policies in complex evolving economies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 166-189.
    4. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5qr7f0k4sk8rbq4do5u6v70rm0 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p6go0e900 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p6go0e900 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p6go0e900 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5qr7f0k4sk8rbq4do5u6v70rm0 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p6go0e900 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Mauro Napoletano, 2018. "A Short Walk on the Wild Side: Agent-Based Models and their Implications for Macroeconomic Analysis," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(3), pages 257-281.
    11. Giovanni Dosi & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini & Tania Treibich, 2016. "The Short- and Long-Run Damages of Fiscal Austerity: Keynes beyond Schumpeter," International Economic Association Series, in: Joseph E. Stiglitz & Martin Guzman (ed.), Contemporary Issues in Macroeconomics, chapter 8, pages 79-100, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Cantono, Simona, 2012. "Unveiling diffusion dynamics: an autocatalytic percolation model of environmental innovation diffusion and the optimal dynamic path of adoption subsidies," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201222, University of Turin.
    13. Bernardo A. Furtado & Miguel A. Fuentes & Claudio J. Tessone, 2019. "Policy Modeling and Applications: State-of-the-Art and Perspectives," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-11, February.
    14. Rengs, Bernhard & Scholz-Waeckerle, Manuel, 2017. "Consumption & Class in Evolutionary Macroeconomics," MPRA Paper 80021, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Ciarli, Tommaso & Valente, Marco, 2016. "The complex interactions between economic growth and market concentration in a model of structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 38-54.
    16. Ciarli, Tommaso & Savona, Maria, 2019. "Modelling the Evolution of Economic Structure and Climate Change: A Review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 51-64.
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5bli88krr28f68nvhfe1qtsl9l is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Lamperti, F. & Dosi, G. & Napoletano, M. & Roventini, A. & Sapio, A., 2020. "Climate change and green transitions in an agent-based integrated assessment model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    19. Amendola, Marco & Lamperti, Francesco & Roventini, Andrea & Sapio, Alessandro, 2024. "Energy efficiency policies in an agent-based macroeconomic model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 116-132.
    20. Andrea Borsato, 2021. "An Agent-based Model for Secular Stagnation in the USA: Theory and Empirical Evidence," LEM Papers Series 2021/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5bli88krr28f68nvhfe1qtsl9l is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Claudia Ghisetti & Massimiliano Mazzanti & Susanna Mancinelli & Mariangela Zoli, 2015. "Do financial constraints make the environment worse off? Understanding the effects of financial barriers on environmental innovations," SEEDS Working Papers 0115, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jan 2015.
    23. Pinget, Amandine, 2016. "Spécificités des déterminants des innovations environnementales : une approche appliquée aux PME [Specificities of determinants for environmental innovation : an approach applied to SMEs]," MPRA Paper 80108, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Tommaso Ciarli & Karolina Safarzynska, 2020. "Sustainability and Industrial Challenge: The Hindering Role of Complexity," SPRU Working Paper Series 2020-18, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    25. Bernhard Rengs & Manuel Scholz-Wäckerle, 2019. "Consumption & class in evolutionary macroeconomics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 229-263, March.
    26. Andrea Borsato, 2021. "Simple Matching Protocols for Agent-based Models," Working Papers of BETA 2021-35, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    27. Francesco Lamperti & Giovanni Dosi & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini & Alessandro Sapio, 2018. "And then he wasn't a she : Climate change and green transitions in an agent-based integrated assessment model," Working Papers hal-03443464, HAL.
    28. Valérie Revest & Alessandro Sapio, 2012. "Financing technology-based small firms in Europe: what do we know?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 179-205, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Innovation; Agent-based Computational Economics; Financial Barriers; Green Finance; Short-termism; Deterring barriers; Credit constraints.;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:sru:ssewps:2018-10. 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: University of Sussex Business School Communications Team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/spessuk.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.