why does the combination of the european union emissions trading scheme and a renewable energy target makes economic sense abstract the european climate and energy mix of targets and policies has been criticised by many economists in particular it is often argued that the renewable energy targets do not make economic sense because they represent an expensive option to reduce co2 emissions within a cap and trade scheme such as the european union emissions trading scheme eu ets in addition it has also been claimed that support for renewable electricity deployment negatively interacts with the eu ets having a dampening effect on the co2 price which favours the dirtiest technologies and is detrimental for the greener ones in this article we argue that this mainstream economic view is short sighted and that a multidisciplinary economic analysis of the climate and energy policy mix is required mainstream economic analysis is based on a narrow approach for the assessment of instrument combinations and neglects relevant insights from several economic disciplines including innovation economics and political economy approaches in reality economic theory supports the combination of an ets and renewable energy targets the existence of different policy goals and market failures the demand pull influence of renewable energy policies on innovation a political economy approach and the different risk exposure of renewable energy technologies call for a policy mix although policy combinations are not a panacea and bring problems on their own the aforementioned negative interaction between renewable energy deployment and the carbon price in the eu ets can be mitigated through appropriate coordination and or instrument choice and design

technological systems and economic policy the diffusion of factory automation in sweden abstract this paper argues that technological systems defined as networks of agents interacting in each specific area of technology under a particular institutional infrastructure constitute a useful unit of analysis for not only innovation and diffusion studies but also work related to technology policy in the case of sweden s technological system for factory automation e g robots it is suggested that three features are central to explaining the extensive diffusion of new technology in the swedish engineering industry namely bridging institutions user supplier linkages and critical mass coupled to advanced economic competence among a key set of users as regards public policy it is argued that its role is to facilitate the formation of new technological systems and to enhance the functioning of existing systems rather than to rectify individual market failures this can be done by creating or strengthening bridging institutions and centers of excellence promoting speedy and wide diffusion of engineering competence and strengthening compensating mechanisms when important nodes in the networks fail given the difficulty of identifying future technological opportunities the simultaneous pursuit of alternative strategies early identification of important developments and increasing the absorptive capacity of the economy become important aspects of public policy

an empirical analysis of canadian merger policy the merger provisions of the new competition act 1986 brought significant changes to canada s merger environment but little is known regarding the application of the provisions by the bureau of competition policy in this paper the decision making process has been approximated by an ordered probit model the estimated ordered probit results indicate that the director of investigation and research has applied the merger provisions in a consistent manner and in accordance with modern industrial organization economics although market share and concentration are important determinants of decisions they are not the only factors considered copyright 1993 by blackwell publishing ltd

the role of transnational dimensions in emerging economy technological innovation systems for clean tech the technological innovation system tis framework and its system functions have become a popular analytical tool for the study of clean tech innovation there is increasing attention for the role of emerging economies in global clean tech innovation but the applicability of tis to emerging economies cases is not entirely straightforward a key issue is the limited geographical considerations in particular transnational dimensions in tis whereas earlier perspectives on innovation in emerging economies have stressed the role of such transnational dimensions this paper elaborates transnational tis actor networks and institutions categorizes these in relation to tis functions and describes their potential to induce or block tis development in emerging economies we draw on insights from the perspectives of national learning systems international technology transfer and global production networks for this purpose we conclude that the potential effects of these transnational dimensions may be accurately grasped by the existing list of system functions lending credence to its further application of the tis framework on emerging economy case studies policy makers in emerging economies should recognize these transnational dimensions and seek to optimize their potential effect on domestic tis development taking in to consideration a realistic assessment of its role in the global tis

comparing systems approaches to innovation and technological change for sustainable and competitive economies an explorative study into conceptual commonalities differences and complementarities this paper makes a distinction between three theoretical frameworks that have been highly influential in the discourse on innovation competitiveness and sustainability sectoral systems of innovation ssi technological innovation systems tis and socio technical systems st systems these frameworks share a common systems approach to innovation but are often positioned as different bodies of literature that correspond to different epistemic communities this paper is explorative and conceptual in nature it presents a systematic comparative review of ssi tis and st systems based on the following analytical dimensions 1 system boundaries 2 actors and networks 3 institutions 4 knowledge 5 dynamics and 6 policy approach in the concluding section commonalities and differences of the three approaches are presented and suggestions for complimentarily are made c 2010 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

green goals and full employment are they compatible abstract two empirical correlations are studied one between economic growth and environmental impacts and the other between the lack of economic growth and unemployment it is demonstrated that at a global level economic growth is strongly correlated with environmental impacts and barriers to fast decoupling are large and numerous on the other hand low or negative growth is highly correlated with increasing unemployment in most market economies and strategies to change this lead to difficult questions and tradeoffs the coexistence of these two correlations which have rarely been studied together in the literature on green growth degrowth and a growth justifies ambivalence about growth to make key environmental goals compatible with full employment the decoupling of environmental impacts from economic output has to be accompanied by a reduction of dependence on growth in particular strategies to tackle unemployment without the need for growth several of which are studied in this article need much more attention in research and policy

an econometric analysis of the european commission s merger decisions abstract using a sample of 96 mergers notified to the european commission and logit regression techniques we analyse the commission s decision process we find that the probability of a phase 2 investigation and of a prohibition of the merger increases with the parties market shares the probabilities increase also when the commission finds high entry barriers or that the post merger market structure is conducive to collusion we do not find significant effects of political variables such as the nationality of the merging firms

installed base and compatibility innovation product preannouncements and predation a good is often more valuable to any user the more others use compatible goods the authors show that this effect may inhibit innovation if an installed base exists and transition to a new standard must be gradual early adopters bear a disproportionate share of transient incompatibility costs this can produce excess inertia the installed base however is stranded if the new standard is adopted this may create excess momentum these dynamic effects have strategic implications temporary price cutting can permanently prevent entry and product preannouncements can be critical in innovation these strategic actions have ambiguous welfare effects

normal markets market imperfections and energy efficiency abstract the conventional distinction between economic and engineering approaches to energy analysis obscures key methodological issues concerning the measurement of the costs and benefits of policies to promote the adoption of energy efficient technologies the engineering approach is in fact based upon firm economic foundations the principle of lifecycle cost minimization that arises directly from the theory of rational investment thus evidence that so called market barriers impede the adoption of cost effective energy efficient technologies implies the existence of market failures as defined in the context of microeconomic theory problems of imperfect information and bounded rationality on the part of consumers for example may lead real world outcomes to deviate from the dictates of efficient resource allocation a widely held contrary view that the engineering view lacks economic justification is based on the fallacy that markets are normally efficient

the sources of divergent practices in china s nuclear power sector abstract unlike markets that were early developers of reactors which are dominated by single technologies china s nuclear power sector adopts and imports multiple technologies even after the chinese government introduced a policy to develop a standardized unified and technologically advanced nuclear power sector in the early 2000s different technologies continue to be imported this study uses an institutional lens to explore the decoupling of policy intentions and implementation the three phases of nuclear technology imports that occurred between the 1980s and 2010 are examined and compared data are collected from multiple sources including the diary of a major decision maker news articles project websites a regulation database domestic journal articles and interviews with industry experts using interactive content analysis this study identifies the multiple policy principles and goals of different domains that led to different import arrangements and interpretations of the available foreign technology new arrangements do not replace but overlap the existing ones that are perpetuated by the actors who benefit from them the results show that the multiplicity of china s nuclear power sector coupled with the government s late attempts at standardization contributes to diversified policy implementation they provide important policy implications for the sustainable development of the sector

competitive dynamics and economic learning an extended resource based view in this paper a conceptual framework for the analysis of economic learning is developed economic learning by analogy with organizational learning results in the development of economic competences or capabilities shared between firms which rest on a foundation of economic resources from which value is generated and economic routines through which resources are utilized it is the mobility of resources and their exchange and production dynamics along evolutionary pathways which underpins the plausibility of a notion of economic learning the paper elaborates this framework as a resource based view rbv of the economy as a whole as an extension of the rbv of the firm such a framework captures the dynamics of exchange and circulation of technologies know how and intangible assets as well as of tangible assets and capital goods it is concerned with investment behavior by entrepreneurs rather than with the behavior of producers and consumers in goods and services markets within this resource economy framework it is possible to generate an account of the resource dynamics that underpin production of goods and services including resource propagation diffusion imitation replication and recombination these processes encompass evolutionary pressures experienced through resource variation selection and retention entrepreneurial initiatives take the form of resource recombinations while resource innovation captures the creation of new economic resources such as technological standards such a perspective brings into focus the resource specialization and configurations that drive real economies within firms and between firms that translates into enhanced or diminished performance of the economy as a whole copyright 2003 oxford university press

supplementing an emissions tax by a feed in tariff for renewable electricity to address learning spillovers abstract in the presence of learning spillovers related to renewable energy technologies an optimal strategy to mitigate climate change should complement an emissions tax by a subsidy for renewables this article addresses the question how such subsidy should be designed it is shown that the widely used approach of a revenue neutral fixed feed in tariff can yield an optimal outcome under restrictive conditions only it has to be adapted continuously as the electricity price changes moreover funding the tariff by a surcharge on the electricity price has important implications for the design of the emission tax the optimal tax rate has to be below the pigovian level differentiated across fossil fuels and adapted over time as the patterns of technological development change these requirements may pose a formidable challenge for practical decision making however it is important to point out that the eventual choices made with respect to the design and funding of a feed in tariff have to be based on a careful and more comprehensive policy assessment including inter alia economic effects beyond the electricity sector and existing institutional constraints

business actors political resistance and strategies for policymakers abstract existing energy policies remain well short of achieving a rapid transformation to a low carbon system of energy supply one of the principal reasons has been political resistance from incumbent fossil fuel industries while numerous studies have demonstrated the influence of business actors across multiple policy domains less work has examined the behaviour of business actors in individual energy centric industries namely the oil gas coal utility and renewable industries accordingly this paper examines the role of business actors in the us energy sector and asks what should policymakers do drawing on new empirical data primarily semi structured interviewers with business actors across the us energy sector this paper argues that there are specific strategies policymakers can employ to help overcome the resistance from incumbent fossil fuel industries specifically these are to entrench and build existing interests via targeted sector specific policies exploit inter industry and intra industry divisions and shift existing interests with policies that induce changes in industry investment and structure

innovation policy for directing technical change in the power sector this paper discusses policy instruments for redirecting technical change within the electricity sector to mitigate climate change first we unravel the mechanism behind directed technical change explaining why markets may underprovide innovations in expensive renewable technologies in comparison to innovations in energy efficient fossil fuel generators subsequently we characterize technical change in electricity generation technologies stressing the heterogeneity of knowledge spillovers both within and between clean electricity generation technologies we argue that there exists a rationale for a portfolio approach to innovation in the electricity sector i e optimal innovation policies are neither fully generic nor fully specific and they need to be adapted in response to new information learned by the government the existing innovation literature does not however provide a clear cut answer for designing such a policy we compare policy instruments and argue that public r d support to clean technologies either in the form of subsidies or prizes seems to be the prime candidate for implementing non generic innovation policy

the efficiency paradox bureaucratic and organizational barriers to profitable energy saving investments abstract the paradox of why profitable energy saving investments are not undertaken continues to provoke debate the underlying phenomenon might be called the efficiency paradox because it represents a case in which business firms which are often presumed or taken axiomatically to be economically efficient make decisions that do not maximize profits new data from one of the us environmental protection agency s voluntary pollution prevention programs enables this paradox to be explored statistically the data show that both the level and variation in returns to lighting upgrade investments cannot be explained by standard economic models substantial gains in energy efficiency can be achieved without sacrificing profitability both economic and organizational factors account for some of the variation in observed returns to these investments but the results suggest a need for improved and more comprehensive theories of the investment behavior of firms and other organizations

uncertainties in future energy demand in uk residential heating fossil fuels are the main source of space heating in the uk and therefore climate mitigation implies a systemic change in space heating systems the challenge is difficult because of an inefficient building stock and high penetration of natural gas we present new quantified scenarios for residential energy use in the uk to 2050 with minimal policy intervention the uk will remain locked into a gas based heating system which would conflict with the policy goal of decarbonisation however there is a range of scenarios in which this is avoided a system heavily reliant on heat pumps powered by low carbon electricity is uk policy makers currently preferred alternative we conclude that some shift in this direction is likely to be required but complete reliance on this solution raises a number of problems greater use of energy efficiency and biomass can also play a significant role these options have different risks but a more diversified strategy would be more prudent we conclude that the future of uk residential space heating is very uncertain but meeting low carbon heating goals is better conceptualised as reducing reliance on gas rather than necessarily mass electrification our analysis has implications for any country with high use of fossil fuels in space heating and ambitious decarbonisation goals

understanding carbon lock in abstract this paper narrative argues that industrial economies have been locked into fossil fuel based energy systems through a process of technological and institutional co evolution driven by path dependent increasing returns to scale it is asserted that this condition termed carbon lock in creates persistent market and policy failures that can inhibit the diffusion of carbon saving technologies despite their apparent environmental and economic advantages the notion of a techno institutional complex is introduced to capture the idea that lock in occurs through combined interactions among technological systems and governing institutions while carbon lock in provides a conceptual basis for understanding macro level barriers to the diffusion of carbon saving technologies it also generates questions for standard economic modeling approaches that abstract away technological and institutional evolution in their elaboration the question of escaping carbon lock in is left for a future paper

the need for policy to address the food system lock in a case study of the finnish context abstract the introduction of synthetic fertilizers transformed the food system into the one we know today in the western world the present paper argues that this transformation has become an irreversible self feeding process referred to as food system lock in which threatens planetary boundaries of nitrogen and phosphorus hence the food security in the future a system in a lock in state can undermine its own existence by deteriorating the capacity to cope with upcoming crises of resource scarcity and environmental instability in this paper the roots of lock in are explored and empirically grounded in the historical narrative of the food system transition in finland in the past 60 years the theoretical framework builds on socio technical studies and the economic theory of increasing returns the aim of the paper is to identify through an evolutionary analysis the processes of increasing returns that have become path inefficient and have reinforced the lock in in the food system three separate but interdependent processes in the production in the policy and institutions and in the supply chain create systematic resistance towards sustainability transition these findings indicate that more attention should be paid at the public policies that are currently too narrow in their scope and do not effectively bridge the entire system from food production to consumption public intervention is critical for the unlocking but individuals in the various parts of the food system are those who create new paths

a comparative analysis of photovoltaic technological innovation systems including international dimensions the cases of japan and the netherlands this paper investigates the development and diffusion of photovoltaic pv technology in japan and the netherlands both cases are analysed with the technological innovation systems tis framework which focuses on a particular technology and includes all those factors that influence the development and diffusion of a technology this framework proposes seven system functions key processes that need to be fulfilled for a tis to function well we include international factors in the framework such as import share export activities foreign direct investment and international knowledge exchange japan is found to have a well functioning pv tis with a strong industry and a large market for pv whereas the dutch have so far established considerably less based on the differences in the cases we formulate a number of lessons for the dutch pv tis 1 system functions such as guidance of the search f4 and advocacy coalitions f7 need to be strengthened in order to reinforce each other in a positive way 2 formulate maintain and translate consistent long term goals into long term policies and stimulation measures in order to allow a gradual build up of networks and skills expertise 3 build up and maintain legitimacy within the institutional setting and 4 strengthen the tis in order for the smes to grow in terms of capital and capabilities

technological clusters with a knowledge based principle evidence from a delphi investigation in the french case of the life sciences abstract recent works in the theory of technical change show the effect of irreversibility and lock in on the diffusion and creation of innovation processes which are able to stop the development of a generic technology therefore industrial policies play a major role in selecting and supporting the innovative process the purpose of this paper is to prove the possibility to derive a typology of future innovations in terms of generic technology from a delphi type technology survey thus it is possible to get a better understanding of the industrial dynamics and to design an interesting tool for industrial policies or for firm strategies as far as they aim at developing stable technological trajectories this is applied to the french case of the life sciences the paper suggests interesting explanatory trajectories in order to fight against diseases such as cancer alzheimer or schizophrenia

the impact of environmental policy instruments on innovation a review of energy and automotive industry studies various types of policy instruments have been implemented to reduce local and global emissions but the impact on innovation of different instruments has received less attention this paper reviews empirical studies of the innovation impact of four main types of policy instruments in two high emitting sectors the conclusions are threefold 1 policy plays a key role for the development and diffusion of environmental innovation in the studied sectors 2 different types of instruments promote different types of innovations general economic instruments has primarily encouraged incremental innovation general regulatory instruments has enforced improvements based on modular innovation and technology specific instruments appears to have been needed to support the development and deployment of radically new technologies 3 all types of policy instruments face challenges in design and implementation understanding the selection impact of the chosen instruments implementing increasing stringency levels committing to an appropriate scale and safeguarding policy stability

plant ownership characteristics and the locational stability of rural iowa manufacturers during each of the last eleven years an average of over 4 000 jobs were eliminated in nonmetropolitan iowa alone because of industrial outmigration or failures despite the magnitude and consequences of this phenomenon industrial outmigration has been studied relatively little by rural development organizations or regional economists too frequently plant closings have been dismissed as simply a random occurrence over which the

analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems a scheme of analysis various researchers and policy analysts have made empirical studies of innovation systems in order to understand their current structure and trace their dynamics however policy makers often experience difficulties in extracting practical guidelines from studies of this kind in this paper we operationalize our previous work on a functional approach to analyzing innovation system dynamics into a practical scheme of analysis for policy makers the scheme is based on previous literature and our own experience in developing and applying functional thinking it can be used by policy makers not only to identify the key policy issues but also to set policy goals

economic growth fossil fuel and non fossil consumption a pooled mean group analysis using proxies for capital this study employs a pooled mean group estimator to examine the nexus between economic growth and fossil and non fossil fuel consumption for 53 countries between 1990 and 2012 the global sample was divided into four categories developed exporters developed importers developing exporters and developing importers the purpose of these categories was to observe whether factors unique to these countries influence the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth with the exception of developing importers evidence of bi directional causality between fossil fuel consumption and real gdp across all subsamples is observed this leads to the conclusion that efforts to directly conserve fossil fuels may harm economic growth in terms of non fossil fuel use the results are more diverse bi directional causality between non fossil fuel use and real gdp is found in the long and short run for developed importers bi directional causality only in the long run for developed exporters negative long run causality from real gdp to non fossil fuels for developing exporters and long run causality from non fossil fuel use to real gdp for developing importers these results lead to the conclusion that other factors have been responsible for the progress seen in non fossil fuel use thus it is concluded that economic growth on its own is insufficient to promote clean energy development there is a need for policy makers to create an environment conducive to renewable energy investment

barriers to energy end use efficiency abstract recent findings indicate that some alternative energy promote equity efficiency and self reliance and are both economical and sustainable the asian development bank therefore initiated a case study to formulate energy strategies which could contribute to the solution of both local and global energy problems the study focuses on technical and economic details of energy end uses in india the conclusions some of which are surprising are supported by data from several studies the study recommends a shift to least cost electricity planning improving the available database for and information availability about energy rationalizing energy pricing and related fiscal policies and achieving energy efficiency by judicious investment in and support of energy forms which will be both sustainable and affordable in the long run

globalizing carbon lock in this paper extends the arguments surrounding carbon lock in elaborated in unruh energy policy 28 2000 817 30 2002 317 to countries currently undergoing industrialization it argues that for numerous reasons industrializing countries are unlikely to leapfrog carbon intensive energy development on the contrary carbon lock in may be globalizing and could further constrain climate change mitigation options it is then argued that many policy recommendations ignore carbon lock in possibly limiting their potential for successful implementation the paper then discusses four policy approaches that appear to have advantages given lock in conditions it is recognized however that relative ease of implementation does not necessarily equate with superiority instead it is merely a path dependent outcome of past development decisions pursuing policies on the basis of relative implementation ease may help address the issue of climate change but could also result in sub optimal outcomes along other dimensions of sustainable development

the costs of mitigating carbon emissions a review of methods and findings from european studies abstract conventional wisdom has it that top down studies of mitigation costs are too pessimistic while bottom up studies are too optimistic in examining mitigation cost studies for western europe this paper finds this interpretation to be flawed the paper expands the analytical framework for interpreting mitigation cost studies evaluates the treatment of no regrets options and other input assumptions in the various studies and includes findings from recent integrated top down bottom up modeling assessments not covered in the ipcc report based on these new elements it is found that mitigation costs tend to be overestimated not only in top down studies but also in bottom up studies given this pervasive bias toward pessimism the body of existing mitigation cost assessments for western europe can be read as follows over the next three to four decades a combination of tax shifts market transformation instruments and policies to reform subsidies and internalize non climatic externalities could cut carbon emissions in western europe by 40 50 relative to the base year at no loss or at a gain in gdp averaged over the medium term and including a phase in period an economically optimal rate of implementing western europe s no regrets potentials is found to be in the neighborhood of 2 per year relative to base year levels

fight fold or settle modelling the reaction to ftc merger challenges i introduction scholars studying law and economics have identified four stages through which every legal dispute moves the first stage involves an alleged injury which leads to the legal dispute second the injured party decides whether to advance a claim once a claim is advanced the plaintiff and defendant may negotiate to settle the claim if the negotiation fails the dispute moves to litigation by subdividing the legal process into these four stages it is possible to study the interaction at any one stage in greater detail this paper models the third stage of this process in an antitrust setting the interaction between the federal trade commission ftc and private parties interested in consummating horizontal mergers that may adversely affect competition the ftc must decide whether to advance a claim against the merger and seek to block the transaction if such a claim is made the merging parties may fight forcing a resolution of the dispute through litigation by moving forward with the transaction they may also fold abandoning the transaction or settle entering into an agreement with the government to resolve the issues underlying the merger challenge this decision to fight fold or settle is somewhat more complicated than the standard settle or litigate question because the prospective nature of the alleged competitive injury gives the defendant an opportunity to abandon the transaction before the injury occurs our basic hypotheses with respect to this process are that firms decisions depend not only on the competitive merits of the ftc s case but perhaps more importantly on the political conglomerate and financial nature of the relevant transaction and how the nature of the case fits into the merger review process section ii presents the background for the analysis by discussing the institutional structure of the ftc explaining the merger review process and then presenting an overview of a firm s options when faced with a decision by the ftc to block a merger section iii models the decision faced by firms defines the equations to be estimated and surveys the data set of ftc merger challenges a multinomial logit model of a firm s fight fold or settle decision is estimated in section iv followed by an interpretation of the results and an application of the model using both historical data and information from mergers proposed during fiscal 1992 and 1993 we find that the level of the competitive overlap associated with the relevant transaction is an important determinant of firms fight fold or settle decisions in particular if the competitive overlap involves a small percentage of the transaction firms generally prefer to reach a negotiated settlement with the commission in such cases the settlement decision appears unaffected by the underlying merits of the ftc s legal position in other cases the merits of the case may play a role in the firm s litigation decision we also find that the potential efficiencies offered by the merger affect the firms decision making process with firms more likely to fight and less likely to settle if the merger is expected to generate efficiencies ii issues in merger enforcement background on the federal trade commission the ftc is a government agency charged along with the antitrust division of the department of justice with enforcing the antitrust laws much of the antitrust casework involves the evaluation of the competitive effects of proposed horizontal mergers 1 to interdict a proposed merger the ftc must obtain a preliminary injunction from a federal district court with possible review from the relevant court of appeals if the court declines to issue the injunction the firms are free to merge though the ftc can initiate a lengthy court process to attempt to obtain a permanent injunction against the merger commission decisions are made by a majority vote of the five commissioners each of whom are appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate for terms of up to seven years

disordering fantasies of coal and technology carbon capture and storage in australia abstract one of the main ways that continued use of coal is justified and compensated for is through fantasies of technology this paper explores the politics of carbon capture and storage ccs technologies in australia these technologies involve capturing co2 emissions usually to store them safely underground in a process called geo sequestration in australia the idea of clean coal has been heavily promoted and is a major part of co2 emissions reduction plans despite the technological difficulties the lack of large scale working prototypes the lack of coal company investment in such research and the current difficulties in detecting leaks this paper investigates the ways that the politics of clean coal have functioned as psycho social defence mechanisms to prolong coal usage assuage political discomfort and anxiety and increase the systemic disturbance produced by coal power

not irrational but habitual the importance of behavioural lock in in energy consumption abstract a substantial body of literature has shown that our behaviour is often guided by habits the existence of habits not fully conscious forms of behaviour is important as it contradicts rational choice theory their presence thus calls for the setting of new instruments as they make it unlikely that consumers be capable of exercising control over their energy consumption in reaction to given incentives this is further increased in the evolutionary perspective where the current carbon based socio technical system constrains and shapes consumers choices through structural forces habits being potentially counterintentional they may explain the efficiency paradox in energy as well as the continued increase of energy consumption despite the rising environmental awareness among the population policies aiming at reducing energy consumption should thus specifically address the performance context of habits for instance targeting new residents has proven to be more effective given that their preceding habits have been disturbed the results of our empirical analysis confirm this idea by showing how a change of context makes people more receptive to a proposed measure our analysis of the role played by habits also suggests that individuals do not consider the need to change existing habits as an obstacle even though this is contradicted implicitly in the answers they provided to open questions this unconsciousness is one of the most delicate features of habits and it should thus be accounted for when designing measures given the other characteristics of habits the joint use of feedbacks and commitment strategies appears promising

barriers within firms to energy efficient investments abstract many investments in energy efficiency fail to be made despite their apparent profitability internal hurdle rates are often set at levels higher than the cost of capital to the firm reasons for these practices include bounded rationality principal agent problems and moral hazard the policy implication is that government can simultaneously improve overall energy efficiency and increase private sector productivity by providing informational and organizational services that go beyond the traditional regulatory framework

transition to a post carbon society linking environmental justice and just transition discourses abstract the hunter valley in new south wales australia is a globally significant coal mining and exporting region the hunter economy s strong basis in fossil fuel production and consumption is challenged by civil society campaigns employing environmental justice discourses this paper analyses how two civil society campaigns in the hunter region stop t4 and groundswell have countered the regional hegemony of fossil fuel interests from an environmental justice perspective however the discursive dominance of the jobs versus environment frame hinders efforts to build solidarity amongst local environmental justice goals on the one hand and workers and union aspirations for secure quality jobs on the other long term structural decline of global coal markets adds pressure for economic transition we argue that campaigns to open up possibilities for transition away from fossil fuel dependency to a post carbon society can be strengthened by engaging with the just transition discourses that are typically associated with organised labour doing so can create synergy for social change by aligning community and labour movement interests inclusive social movement partnerships around this synergy must address structural disadvantage that creates social and economic insecurity if communities are to prevail over the fossil fuel sector s hegemony

plant closures and local economic conditions rowland m 1988 plant closures and local economic conditions reg studies 22 193 207 this paper tests the hypotheses that plant closures are influenced by local production costs local rates of unionization changes in local production costs and local and national market growth using data on three of the three digit standard industrial code industries of metalworking machinery electronic components and motor vehicles the study finds that local economic conditions have little impact on plant closures the only variables to consistently predict the probability a plant will close is the plant s status as a branch subsidiary headquarters or independents and for independents the firm s age the likelihood of a branch plant or subsidiary closing is much higher than that of an independent or headquarters with headquarters and independents equally likely to close not surprisingly new firms were more likely to close than more mature firms and for two of the industries small establishments exhib

technology adoption in the presence of network externalities we analyze technology adoption in industries where network externalities are significant the pattern of adoption depends on whether technologies are sponsored a sponsor is an entity that has property rights to the technology and hence is willing to make investments to promote it key findings include the following 1 compatibility tends to be undersupplied by the market but excessive standardization can occur 2 in the absence of sponsors the technology superior today has a strategic advantage and is likely to dominate the market 3 when one of two rival technologies is sponsored that technology has a strategic advantage and may be adopted even if it is inferior 4 when two competing technologies both are sponsored the technology that will be superior tomorrow has a strategic advantage

the nature and importance of economic competence this chapter takes on three tasks 1 to survey the study of economic competence as it appears in economic literature 2 to give a meaningful and operational definition of economic competence as one of the factors contributing to macroeconomic growth and 3 to suggest a methodology pursued in greater depth elsewhere to generalize and link economic competence as defined at the micro firm individual level to macroeconomic growth through simulation on the micro based macroeconomic model of the swedish economic system moses by introducing knowledge in the micro setting of firm organizational competence we arrive at a very different interpretation measured at the macro industry level from that of standard neoclassical theory

the development and use of machine tools in historical perspective abstract improvements and diffusion of machine tools have had a major impact on productivity in manufacturing industry since the industrial revolution the impact has been both direct and indirect the direct impact consists of rising labor productivity through the use of faster more accurate more mechanized machines and of the higher capital productivity through higher operating rates greater reliability and higher utilization rates the indirect impact arises as the use of new or improved machine tools has necessitated or facilitated organizational changes affecting both labor capital raw materials and energy the magnitude of these impacts has varied over the years with the areas of application as new production methods have made possible entirely new products or lowered the cost of existing products sufficiently to create new markets the first part of the paper contains a review of the historical development of machine tool technology since the industrial revolution paying particular attention to the role of interaction between producers and users of machine tools the second part focuses on the way in which recent development differs from that in earlier periods in particular it is found that the major changes in machine tool technology from the so called american system of manufactures in the early 19th century to the development of detroit automation in the 1950s have tended to improve mass production methods by contrast the development of numerical control beginning in 1948 has opened up the possibility of extending industrial production methods and automation to areas previously characterized more by handicraft methods even though this technology is not yet fully utilized it is clear that the economics of industrial production has been revolutionized by the cost reduction of small scale production relative to large scale and the degree of flexibility offered by the technology the third section of the paper deals with the present development trends particularly discussing the increasing importance of flexibility and the shifting emphasis from development of individual pieces of machinery to integration and control of entire manufacturing processes i a through the use of industrial robots the reasons for the need for greater flexibility in manufacturing are also identified

the economics of changing course implications of adaptability and inertia for optimal climate policy this paper reviews evidence that energy technologies and systems adapt over time to accommodate external pressures that technical innovation and systemic change in the energy sector is largely induced by need and restrained by potentially large transitional costs a simple integrated model of optimal greenhouse gas abatement over time is presented in which the abatement cost depends on both fixed and transitional elements it is shown that the optimal current response and long run prospects differ radically between the classical economic case in which the cost of a given cutback in emissions is fixed exogenously and the adaptive case in which the response is ultimately adaptive but heavily constrained by inertia ie low fixed but high transitional cost if energy systems are indeed to a large degree adaptive the results demonstrate that as compared with the classical non adaptive case long run stabilization of atmospheric co2 may be optimal even with moderate damages from climate change greater near term abatement efforts are justified and the cost of a given delay in response may be several times higher neglect of the issue of induced technical change and other adaptive responses may invalidate the policy implications drawn from most integrated assessment models developed to date

the critical role of informed political direction for advancing technology the case of swedish marine energy marine energy technologies can contribute to meeting sustainability challenges but they are still immature and dependent on public support this paper employs the technological innovation systems tis framework to analyze the development and diffusion of swedish marine energy up until 2014 while there were promising device developers relevant industrial capabilities and world class research the system suffered from weaknesses in several important innovation processes finally the analysis identifies the lack of informed political direction as a critical blocking factor and highlights its connection to domestic market potential

a low carbon industrial revolution insights and challenges from past technological and economic transformations recent efforts to promote a transition to a low carbon economy have been influenced by suggestions that a low carbon transition offers challenges and might yield economic benefits comparable to those of the previous industrial revolutions this paper examines these arguments and the challenges facing a low carbon transition by drawing on recent thinking on the technological economic and institutional factors that enabled and sustained the first british industrial revolution and the role of general purpose technologies in stimulating and sustaining this and subsequent industrial transformation processes that have contributed to significant macroeconomic gains these revolutions involved profound long drawn out changes in economy technology and society and although their energy transitions led to long run economic benefits they took many decades to develop to reap significant long run economic benefits from a low carbon transition sooner rather than later would require systemic efforts and incentives for low carbon innovation and substitution of high carbon technologies we conclude that while achieving a low carbon transition may require societal changes on a scale comparable with those of previous industrial revolutions this transition does not yet resemble previous industrial revolutions a successful low carbon transition would however amount to a different kind of industrial revolution

after the exit acquisitions entrepreneurial recycling and regional economic development mason c m and harrison r t 2006 after the exit acquisitions entrepreneurial recycling and regional economic development regional studies 40 55 73 most studies of the impact of mergers and acquisitions suggest they have a detrimental impact on economic development in peripheral regions over the longer term however such assessments fail to consider the post acquisition behaviour of the cashed out entrepreneurs it is argued here that acquisition triggers a process of entrepreneurial recycling in which the entrepreneurs use their newly acquired wealth allied to the experience they have accumulated to engage in other entrepreneurial activities notably starting new business ventures and investing in other businesses as business angels or venture capitalists case studies of five scottish technology based firms that were acquired by non uk companies illustrate this process when entrepreneurial recycling is taken into account the overall impact of acquisition on regional economic development

plant closures in multi plant enterprises the case of a declining industrial sector healey m j 1982 plant closures in multi plant enterprises the case of a declining industrial sector reg studies 16 37 51 the decline in british manufacturing industry and its uneven spatial manifestation has led to a growing interest in the study of plant closures this paper examines the closures made by a group of multi plant enterprises in the textile and clothing industries between 1967 and 1972 the frequency of closures is related to six enterprise characteristics profitability size growth rate organizational structure industrial nature and investment strategy and seven plant characteristics size age length of time operated location within enterprise internal linkages status and industrial nature where possible the findings are compared with those of other relevant surveys the implications for urban and regional development are discussed

recent evolutionary theorizing about economic change this famous passage from marshall s principles of economics it first appeared in the fifth edition which came out in 1907 nicely brings out two issues which are as germane to economics today as they were when marshall wrote the first is the heavy reliance by economists in their formal theorizing on the notion of equilibrium the other is the appeal that biological conceptions3x201d have for many economists particularly when their focus is on economic change

how the global and national levels interrelate in climate policymaking foreign policy analysis and the case of carbon capture storage in norway s foreign policy abstract states struggle to develop adequate climate change mitigation policies especially when national energy interests conflict with collective environmental concerns it is therefore crucial to understand how viable solutions may find political support on these terms as one such case this paper examines norway s explicit foreign policy to promote carbon capture and storage ccs as a mitigation measure i suggest that a foreign policy analysis framework with a norm centered constructivist focus allows for new insights into how climate policies function as balancing strategies between external normative pressures and important domestic concerns it reveals how norway s ccs policy represents an extraordinary effort to bridge seemingly contradictory agendas the norwegian ccs case highlights how a state may engage in innovative foreign political engineering to promote solutions to its international climate commitments on terms that fit national energy needs it shows that climate political success may depend on successfully linking the international and domestic levels by simultaneously appealing to established norms within each system

the climate change challenge and transitions for radical changes in the european steel industry this paper presents ideas pertaining to transitions that are envisaged in the steel industry from cleaner production cp to systems innovation limits of the socio technical system and the climate change challenge will induce changes in the production distribution and consumption patterns of steel and other materials insights from industrial economics and evolutionary theory on innovation for sustainable development are needed to assess the rationale behind the adoption and diffusion of new breakthrough technologies named ultra low co2 steel making ulcos evolution in material consumption patterns deserves a special research agenda which focuses upon the long term evolution of the consuming sectors as major changes in the infrastructure and products that support our many energy dependent services mobility shelter heat light etc are expected these changes will be significantly amplified by greenhouse gas emission constraints

on and off the beaten path the evolution of four technological systems in sweden abstract this paper examines four swedish case studies of technological systems from the perspective of path dependence what are the similarities and differences in this regard between factory automation electronics and computers biotechnology and powder technology what are the distinctive features in each system which set it apart from similar systems elsewhere and what role does path dependence play in explaining these features the essential function of technological systems is to capture diffuse and magnify spillovers of technical and organizational knowledge therefore the nature of knowledge i e the characteristics of knowledge and how it can be transmitted in each system determines what types of spillovers are likely to occur as well as the mechanisms through which they occur other important influences are the initial conditions and the institutions including both organizations and rules of the game

the socio technical transition of distributed electricity storage into future networks system value and stakeholder views whole system models for the gb electricity system suggest that distributed electricity storage has the potential to significantly reduce the system integration cost for future system scenarios from a policy perspective this poses the question why this value should not be realised within existing market structures opinion among stakeholders is divided some believe that storage deployment constitutes a special case in need of policy support others insist that markets can provide the necessary platform to negotiate contracts which reward storage operators for the range of services they could provide this paper seeks to inform this debate with a process of stakeholder engagement using a perspective informed by socio technical transition literatures this approach allows the identification of tensions among actors in the electricity system and of possibilities for co evolution in the deployment of storage technologies during a transition towards a low carbon electricity system it also draws attention to policy related challenges of technology lock in and path dependency resulting from poor alignment of incumbent regimes with the requirements for distributed electricity storage

renewable electricity generation in germany a meta analysis of mitigation scenarios german energy policy targets envision a share of electricity from renewable energy sources res e of at least 80 in 2050 how can the transformation of the german electricity sector be achieved and at what costs this paper addresses these questions by means of a meta analysis of 10 recent model based mitigation scenarios for germany it turns out that the scenarios exploit the three basic strategic options of increasing the share of res e domestic res e generation electricity demand reductions and res e imports to substantially different extents domestic res e generation increases in all scenarios particularly from onshore and offshore wind scenarios that rely heavily on reducing electricity demand require a relatively low expansion of domestic res e generation despite detailed technical analyses insights on the costs of the transformation remain limited a discussion of underlying scenario assumptions reveals that it is unclear whether i res e and system integration technology development will be as cost competitive as postulated ii implicitly assumed institutional requirements will be realized and iii relevant actors in the transformation process will be incentivized accordingly therefore future research should pursue a thorough assessment of strategic options for transforming the german electricity system that consistently integrates technologies institutions and actors

concentration in the european electricity industry the internal market as solution abstract this article offers an analysis of the present competitive and regulatory framework of the european electricity sector and the results achieved with the liberalisation process considering the reactions of incumbents to the liberalisation the focus in this work is mainly on the problem of market concentration in the sector the new trends toward the creation of national champions as well as recent mergers between gas suppliers and electricity producers raise serious concerns about abuses of market power and risk of future collusion in particular the strategic linkage of existing markets and the expansion into new ones are analyzed in the light of the multimarket contact theory considering investment in interconnection among member states the internal market issue is investigated as a solution to the risks coming from liberalisation

the two faces of market support how deployment policies affect technological exploration and exploitation in the solar photovoltaic industry the recent years have seen a strong rise in policies aiming to increase the diffusion of clean energy technologies while there is general agreement that such deployment policies have been very effective in bringing technologies to the market it is less understood how these policies affect technological innovation to shed more light on this important question we conducted comparative case studies with a global sample of 9 firms producing solar photovoltaic pv modules complemented by in depth interviews with 16 leading pv industry experts we propose that on the one hand policy induced market growth serves as an important catalyst for innovative activity as it raises the absolute level of firm investments in technological exploration on the other hand however deployment policies create an incentive for firms pursuing more mature technologies to shift their balance between exploitation and exploration toward exploitation firms focusing on less mature technologies cannot tap the potentials of exploitative learning to the same extent as those with more mature technologies therefore stimulating strong market growth may raise the barrier to market entry for less mature technologies we conclude that when designing deployment policies great care should be taken to avoid adverse effects on technological diversity and a premature lock in into more established technologies

structural adjustment in a stagnating economy regional manufacturing employment in sweden 1975 1980 hakanson l and danielsson l 1985 structural adjustment in a stagnating economy regional manufacturing employment in sweden 1975 1980 reg studies 19 329 342 shift share analysis of swedish manufacturing employment reveals a continuing geographical decentralization away from the traditional industrial centres towards the periphery and from the cores of the three metropolitan areas towards their fringes regression analyses are used to analyse the influence of four sets of forces 1 agglomeration diseconomies 2 labour market characteristics 3 large multi plant firms and 4 regional policy the results suggest the observed deconcentration to be primarily a response to agglomeration diseconomies and that labour characteristics have been a primary attraction in the periphery but that these tendencies are modified in municipalities constituting the headquarter corporate core of a dominating employer regional subsidies appear to have been an attraction particularly in the so called outer a

bad eggs learning by doing and the choice of technology we model long run economic development through technology adoption under scientific uncertainty about environmental effects there are four possible long run equilibria in a socially planned economy high growth adopt rapidly but abandon damaging technologies once revealed ddt cfcs cautious brake the introduction of new technologies to avoid mistakes genetically modified organisms no growth halt technological progress to preserve secondary knowledge and collapse adopt rapidly without ever abandoning damaging technologies in the base parameterization a short sighted social planner chooses the cautious strategy a far sighted planner chooses the high growth strategy unless damages are irreversible in which case the cautious strategy again dominates regulatory options in the market economy are investigated pollution taxes do not affect the firm s level of precaution if they can only be applied after the adopting firm has reaped the benefits however they do encourage the abandonment of damaging technologies liability rules do affect precaution but may lead to excessive caution or even a no growth trap

from malthus to sustainable energy theoretical orientations to reforming the energy sector abstract the main purpose of this article is to consider macro level theories for understanding the urge for reform as well as the process of societal change both in general terms and more specifically within the energy sector the aim is also to consider the energy sector in a wider context and analyse its recent development as a potential part of this reform the scope and logical framework of this article is the following the state of the global environment is approaching a point where the whole of humankind is in danger the article reviews and discusses humankind s limits of existence and dialectics of the human nature relationship by contrasting malthusian and boserupian theoretical views this creates both practical and scientific needs the long societal process of change is discussed according to the three layer 3l model of societal chance the production of energy has traditionally been one of the core issues concerning the effect humankind has on the environment and with regards to potential change related to it reforming the energy sector is in a key position this article reviews and discusses the way the already established renewal of the energy sector corresponds to the 3l model and the diverse potentials of the anticipated further progress

developing pathways for energy storage in the uk using a coevolutionary framework abstract a number of recent techno economic studies have shown that energy storage could offer significant benefits to a low carbon uk energy system as it faces increased challenges in matching supply and demand however the majority of this work has not investigated the real world issues affecting the widespread deployment of storage this paper is designed to address this gap by drawing on the systems innovation and socio technical transitions literature to identify some of the most important contextual factors which are likely to influence storage deployment specifically it uses a coevolutionary framework to examine how changes in ecosystems user practices business strategies institutions and technologies are creating a new selection environment and potentially opening up the energy system to new variations of storage for both electricity and heat the analysis shows how these different dimensions of the energy regime can coevolve in mutually reinforcing ways to create alternative pathways for the energy system which in turn have different flexibility requirements and imply different roles for storage technologies using this framework three pathways are developed user led decentralised and centralised which illustrate potential long term trajectories for energy storage technologies in a low carbon energy system