【主 题】The Shale Boom and Green Innovation: Impact of Low Energy Prices on Corporate Patents
【报告人】Jin Soo Han（助理教授，韩国科学技术院商学院）
【时 间】2024年4月9日周二10:30-12:00
【地 点】高等研究院楼232会议室
【语 言】英文
【摘 要】The U.S. shale revolution has led to a glut of oil and natural gas, reshaping firms’ incentives to invest in innovation for green technology. Drawing upon a stylized economic model of green innovation based on a CES production function, this study examines the spillover impact of the shale boom on non-energy companies’green innovation geared toward sustainable production and operations. Exploiting differential exposure to the U.S. shale boom across states as a natural experiment, we show that the level of green patents across non-energy firms located in shale-booming states has decreased after the shale development started, especially for production and processing of goods (i.e., green production innovation). The shale boom-led reduction in green production innovation is more salient for energy-intensive firms that rely more on oil and natural gas in their production process. Consistent with our theoretical prediction, we also present suggestive evidence that lower fossil fuel prices increase industrial energy use and contract corporate innovation efforts for green production as firms substitute green technology with fossil fuel-powered alternatives. However, non-production-oriented green innovation—transportation and infrastructure - is found to be less responsive to the shale boom than production-related green innovation. While the shale boom has brought economic prosperity across the country, our findings report its unexpected consequences of dwarfing technological innovation that can combat climate change.
【报告人简介】Jin Soo Han is an assistant professor of IT Management at the KAIST College of Business. His main research interests are energy/environmental economics and economics of information systems. He has published papers in selective journals such as American Economic Review and Journal of Industrial Economics. He has provided consulting for private and public institutions, including Naver, Kakao, Seah Steel, and the Korea Development Institute (KDI).
