The Green Paradox states that, in the absence of a tax on CO2 emissions, subsidizing a renewable backstop such as solar or wind energy brings forward the date at which fossil fuels become exhausted and consequently global warming is aggravated. We shed light on this issue by solving a model of...

This paper studies how sulfur protocols trigger invention and diffusion of technologies for reducing SO2 emissions. For this goal we constructed a patent data set on SO2 abatement technologies filed in 15 signatory and non-signatory countries in the period 1970-1997. Our data enable us to study...

The energy transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources has important consequences for technological change and resource extraction. We examine these consequences by incorporating a non-renewable resource and an alternative energy source in a market economy model of endogenous...

We argue that expectations about future energy use affect the transition from fossil fuels to renewable substitutes, because of an interaction between innovation and resource scarcity. The paper presents a model of directed technical change to study this interaction. We find that resource-saving...

Is there a case to be made for preferential treatment of the exposed sector in an economy when compliance to an aggregate emissions constraint induced by an international environmental agreement is mandatory? This question is being debated in many countries, including The Netherlands, in the...

This paper addresses the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve for China, using a sampleof thirty regions and covering the period 1982-1997. The types of pollution included in the studyare wastewater, waste gas and solid waste. We consider the development of the sources ofpollution in a...

We empirically investigate the responsiveness of international trade to the stringency of environmental regulation. Stringent environmental regulation may impair the export competitiveness of ‘dirty’ domestic industries, and as a result, ‘pollution havens’ emerge in countries where...

This paper studies patenting decisions by firms in relation to the negotiation and signing of the Helsinki and Oslo protocol as part of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. We use a uniquely constructed patent data set on SO2 abatement technologies filed in 15 signatory and...

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) seems an appealing option to meet the ambitious objectives of the Paris Agreement. Captured carbon emissions can also be injected in active fields to enhance recovery: Carbon capture and utilization (CCU). We study a dynamic model of CCS and CCU of an economy...

Economic theories of managing renewable resources, such as fisheries and forestry, traditionally assume that individual harvesters are perfectly rational and thus able to compute the harvesting strategy that maximizes their discounted profits. The current paper presents an alternative approach...