Abstract
The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of technology externalities stemming from different technological sectors for international firms engaged both in water pollution abatement and in dirty activities. We present a theoretical framework and an empirical analysis based upon a dataset composed of worldwide R&D-intensive firms. In order to identify the technological proximity between the firms, we construct an original Mahalanobis environmental industry weight matrix, based on the construction of technological vectors for each firm, with European ecological patents distributed across more technology classes. Opportune econometric techniques that deal with the firms’ unobserved heterogeneity and the weak exogeneity of the explanatory variables are implemented. The findings show significant spillover effects on the productivity and environmental performance of the firms.
Highlights
In advanced economies, successful modernization has brought forth new concerns about the long-term ecological viability of an advanced industrial society and renewed questions about the relation between material success and more fundamental human values, as discussed in Nelson and Winter [1]
Technological innovation in dirty production, characterized by continuous changes related to progress along a trajectory defined by a paradigm [2], has guaranteed continuous economic growth
The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 introduces a theoretical framework of firms’ activities; Section 3 describes the data used in the empirical analysis; Section 4 presents the empirical analysis of three environmental targets including water pollution abatement, waste management efficiency, and energy production efficiency by economic area; and Section 5 concludes the paper
Summary
Successful modernization has brought forth new concerns about the long-term ecological viability of an advanced industrial society and renewed questions about the relation between material success and more fundamental human values, as discussed in Nelson and Winter [1]. Since the analysis of sectoral patterns of technical change leads to relevant taxonomy based on firms, which has implications for the understanding of the sources and directions of technical change, firms’ diversification behavior, and the dynamic relationship between technology and industrial structure [13], in this paper we focus our attention on the analysis of integration processes between ecological activities. To this end, we identify technological patent classes of water pollution abatement for 240 large international firms located in the USA, Japan, and Europe, and we evaluate their Mahalanobis proximities. The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 introduces a theoretical framework of firms’ activities; Section 3 describes the data used in the empirical analysis; Section 4 presents the empirical analysis of three environmental targets including water pollution abatement, waste management efficiency, and energy production efficiency by economic area; and Section 5 concludes the paper
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
