Does Foreign Environmental Policy Influence Domestic Innovation? Evidence from the Wind Industry

This paper examines the relative influence of domestic and foreign renewable energy policies on innovation activity in wind power using patent data from OECD countries from 1995 to 2005. We distinguish between the impact of demand-pull policies (e.g. guaranteed tariffs, investment and production tax credits), as reflected by wind power capacity installed annually, and technology-push policies (government support to R&D). We show that inventors...