Environmental policy vs. public pressure: Innovation and diffusion of alternative bleaching technologies in the pulp industry |
| |
Authors: | David Popp Tamara Hafner Nick Johnstone |
| |
Institution: | a Department of Public Administration, Center for Policy Research, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1020, United States b National Bureau of Economic Research, United States c Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public Affairs, American University, Ward Building 345, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016, United States d OECD Environment Directorate, Empirical Policy Analysis Unit, 2 rue André Pascal, F 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France |
| |
Abstract: | In the late 1980s and early 1990s, concern over dioxin in both paper products and wastewater led to the development of techniques that reduced the use of chlorine in the pulp industry. Both regulatory and consumer pressure motivated this change. Unlike previous studies, we use patent data to examine the evolution of two competing bleaching technologies in five major paper-producing countries, both of which reduce the use of chlorine in the pulping process. The use of patent data allows us to focus on the invention stage. However, adoption data are also presented, and by the end of the 1990s, nearly all pulp production in these countries used one of these technologies. While previous studies emphasize the importance of regulation for inducing innovation, here we find substantial innovation occurring before regulations were in place. Instead, pressure from consumers and the public at large to reduce the chlorine content of paper drove invention, prior to the introduction of environmental policies in any of the countries concerned. |
| |
Keywords: | Q55 Q53 O31 O33 |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|