The Effect of Marshallian and Jacobian Knowledge Spillovers on Jobs in the Solar, Wind and Energy Efficiency Sector

Luigi Aldieri,Jonas Grafström,Concetto Paolo Vinci

doi:10.3390/en14144269

Luigi Aldieri, Jonas Grafström + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144269

Copy DOI

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to establish if Marshallian and Jacobian knowledge spillovers affect job creation in the green energy sector. Whether these two effects exist is important for the number of jobs created in related fields and jobs pushed away in other sectors. In the analysis, the production efficiency, in terms of jobs and job spillovers, from inventions in solar, wind and energy efficiency, is explored through data envelopment analysis (DEA), based on the Malmquist productivity index, and tobit regression. A panel dataset of American and European firms over the period of 2002–2017 is used. The contribution to the literature is to show the role of the spillovers from the same technology sector (Marshallian externalities), and of the spillovers from more diversified activity (Jacobian externalities). Since previous empirical evidence concerning the innovation effects on the production efficiency is yet weak, the paper attempts to bridge this gap. The empirical findings suggest negative Marshallian externalities, while Jacobian externalities have no statistical impact on the job creation process. The findings are of strategic importance for governments who are developing industrial strategies for renewable energy.

Highlights

There is an increasing interest in employment effects of the European green energy transition [1,2,3]
Job development from the green energy sectors has evolved into political priority to decrease unemployment, while at the same time safeguarding a sustainable economic growth path [4,5]
The findings indicate statistically significant Marshallian spillovers effects on employment

Summary

Introduction

There is an increasing interest in employment effects of the European green energy transition [1,2,3]. While there are plenty of studies that cover the number of direct, indirect and induced jobs from green energy, there is a clear gap when it comes to our understanding on how the advances in green energy technologies creates new jobs in other sectors or reduces them (see e.g., [12,14]). There are, to our knowledge, few empirical studies considering how the knowledge spillover diffusion process affects job-creation in the green energy sector [15,16]. A knowledge gap exists concerning employment spillover effects green energy knowledge spillovers (in this paper solar, wind and fuel efficiency is studied, and called green energy) [17,18,19,20,21]. Previous knowledge spillover studies concerning wind and solar power considered effects on technological change of knowledge flows [43,44]. Investments in environmental technologies might be at the basis of positive complementarities between employment and environmental performances [45]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion