Working Paper: NBER ID: w31714
Authors: Eugenie Dugoua; Todd Gerarden
Abstract: We study how individual inventors respond to incentives to work on “clean” electricity technologies. Using natural gas price variation, we estimate output and entry elasticities of inventors and measure the medium-term impacts of a price increase mirroring the social cost of carbon. We find that the induced clean innovation response primarily comes from existing clean inventors. New inventors are less responsive on the margin than their average contribution to clean energy patenting would indicate. Our findings highlight the potential importance of policies that increase the supply of clean inventors who are focused on mitigating climate change.
Keywords: clean energy; innovation; natural gas prices; patenting; energy transition
JEL Codes: O31; Q40; Q55
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Natural gas prices (Q31) | total clean patenting (Q55) |
| Natural gas prices (Q31) | clean patent families produced by average clean incumbents (L15) |
| Natural gas prices (Q31) | entry of new clean technology inventors (Q55) |