Environmental Regulation and the Cross-Border Diffusion of New Technology: Evidence from Automobile Patents

53 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2012 Last revised: 13 Jul 2015

See all articles by Antoine Dechezleprêtre

Antoine Dechezleprêtre

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

Eric Neumayer

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Richard Perkins

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

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Date Written: February 14, 2012

Abstract

We examine the impact of environmental regulation on the international diffusion of new technology through the patent system. We employ a dataset of automobile emission standards between 1992 and 2007 and corresponding data on cross-border patent inflows of technologies developed to comply with these standards. Our analysis, based on a research design of country pair years, shows it is “regulatory distance” between countries rather than absolute regulatory stringency per se that matters for cross-border patent inflows: the flow of compliance technologies rises when regulatory standards in the inventor and the recipient countries become “closer”.

Keywords: pollution control technologies, environmental regulation, international technology diffusion

JEL Classification: O33, Q53, Q55

Suggested Citation

Dechezleprêtre, Antoine and Neumayer, Eric and Perkins, Richard, Environmental Regulation and the Cross-Border Diffusion of New Technology: Evidence from Automobile Patents (February 14, 2012). Research Policy, 44 (1), 2015, pp. 244-257, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2005003 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2005003

Antoine Dechezleprêtre

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Eric Neumayer (Contact Author)

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://ericneumayer.wordpress.com/

Richard Perkins

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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