The Political Economics of Green Transitions

2023/01/24 by Timothy Besley, Torsten Persson · 1 voice · 3 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Energy · #Climate Change Policy and Economics #Energy, Environment, Economic Growth #Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/qje/qjad006

openalex publication_date 2023/01/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Abstract Reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases may be almost impossible without a green transition—a substantial transformation of consumption and production patterns. To study such transitions, we propose a dynamic model, which differs from the common approach in economics in two ways. First, consumption patterns reflect not just changing prices and taxes, but changing values. Transitions of values and technologies create a dynamic complementarity that can help or hinder a green transition. Second, and unlike fictitious social planners, policy makers in democratic societies cannot commit to future policy paths, as they are subject to regular elections. We show that market failures and government failures can interact to prevent a welfare-increasing green transition from materializing or make an ongoing green transition too slow.

Citations

• The Economics of Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences
• Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market
• Economics and Identity*
• Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games
• Endogenous Technological Change
• Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth
• A Positive Theory of Fiscal Deficits and Government Debt
• The economics of green consumption, cultural transmission and sustainable technological change
• The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing

Cited by

• The hole in the doughnut: Formalizing and testing a key model of degrowth
• Policy interactions and electricity generation sector CO2 emissions: A quasi-experimental analysis
• Green transitions: complementarities, multiple equilibria, and tipping points

Discussions

• Found one. Might be more before it. There's nothing after it. Besley et al., "The Political Economics of Green Transitions", The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 138, Issue 3, August 2023, Pa [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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