Schumpeterian competition and environmental R&D

✍ Scribed by John T. Scott

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 121 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0143-6570
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1468(199709)18:6<455::aid-mde847>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Companies' emissions-reducing R&D investments increase in response to

Schumpeterian competition-R&D rivalry among large firms -in the context of evolving emissions regulation. Estimation supports a theoretical role for emissions standards: to reduce negative externalities caused by hazardous air emissions, government can set standards that cause firms to accept the uncertainty of R&D. Furthermore, the pressure of R&D competition causes firms to increase their R&D investment. The paper uses primary data about manufacturers' emissions-reducing R&D. Responses to a questionnaire -mailed to the companies in the Business Week R&D Scoreboard sample for 1993 -provide the new data about R&D to reduce the toxic air emissions of chemicals targeted in Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act. The Act stimulated R&D investments by establishing the government's commitment to develop standards-which are still evolving -for the toxic chemicals.