Induced technical change is crucial for tackling the problem of timing
in environmental policy. However, it is by no means obvious that
the state has the ability to impose its will concerning technical
change on the other relevant actors. Therefore, we conceptualize
power in a non-linear model with social conflict and induced technical
change. The model shows how economic growth, business cycles and
innovation waves interact in the dynamics of energy efficiency. We
assess three different ways of government control: energy taxes,
energy and labor subsidies, and energy caps. Energy taxes help to
select more energy efficient technologies. However, a successful
selection of such technologies presupposes that they are available
in the pool of technologies. As for energy subsidies, their existence
helps to explain why in contemporary economies labor productivity
grows faster than energy efficiency. With an energy cap, the social
network of the relevant agents may be stabilized via social norms.
It seems plausible that innovation waves comprise several business
cycles and that such a wave is currently in the making. Proposals
to postpone policies for improving energy efficiency increase the
risk of energy inefficient lock-in effects.
%0 Journal Article
%1 Edenhofer1998/12/1
%A Edenhofer, Ottmar
%A Jaeger, Carlo C.
%D 1998/12/1
%J Energy Economics
%K Government Power Social Technical change; conflict; control;
%N 5-6
%P 513-537
%T Power shifts: the dynamics of energy efficiency
%V 20
%X Induced technical change is crucial for tackling the problem of timing
in environmental policy. However, it is by no means obvious that
the state has the ability to impose its will concerning technical
change on the other relevant actors. Therefore, we conceptualize
power in a non-linear model with social conflict and induced technical
change. The model shows how economic growth, business cycles and
innovation waves interact in the dynamics of energy efficiency. We
assess three different ways of government control: energy taxes,
energy and labor subsidies, and energy caps. Energy taxes help to
select more energy efficient technologies. However, a successful
selection of such technologies presupposes that they are available
in the pool of technologies. As for energy subsidies, their existence
helps to explain why in contemporary economies labor productivity
grows faster than energy efficiency. With an energy cap, the social
network of the relevant agents may be stabilized via social norms.
It seems plausible that innovation waves comprise several business
cycles and that such a wave is currently in the making. Proposals
to postpone policies for improving energy efficiency increase the
risk of energy inefficient lock-in effects.
@article{Edenhofer1998/12/1,
abstract = {Induced technical change is crucial for tackling the problem of timing
in environmental policy. However, it is by no means obvious that
the state has the ability to impose its will concerning technical
change on the other relevant actors. Therefore, we conceptualize
power in a non-linear model with social conflict and induced technical
change. The model shows how economic growth, business cycles and
innovation waves interact in the dynamics of energy efficiency. We
assess three different ways of government control: energy taxes,
energy and labor subsidies, and energy caps. Energy taxes help to
select more energy efficient technologies. However, a successful
selection of such technologies presupposes that they are available
in the pool of technologies. As for energy subsidies, their existence
helps to explain why in contemporary economies labor productivity
grows faster than energy efficiency. With an energy cap, the social
network of the relevant agents may be stabilized via social norms.
It seems plausible that innovation waves comprise several business
cycles and that such a wave is currently in the making. Proposals
to postpone policies for improving energy efficiency increase the
risk of energy inefficient lock-in effects.},
added-at = {2008-08-31T18:03:07.000+0200},
author = {Edenhofer, Ottmar and Jaeger, Carlo C.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2431c4eb3085e641fd40b13eff98f35a3/jomiralb},
description = {Old biblio},
interhash = {4c086f65c796a0df5ec8d1ec0cb5d3c5},
intrahash = {431c4eb3085e641fd40b13eff98f35a3},
journal = {Energy Economics},
keywords = {Government Power Social Technical change; conflict; control;},
number = {5-6},
owner = {oriol},
pages = {513-537},
timestamp = {2008-08-31T18:03:12.000+0200},
title = {Power shifts: the dynamics of energy efficiency},
volume = 20,
year = {1998/12/1}
}