Environmental Policy and Technological Innovation: Why Firms Adopt or Reject New Technologies?

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For over 30 years environmental policy has developed under the assumption that self-interest explains firms' environmental behaviour and that the problem of pollution can be rectified by technological fixes. This policy paradigm has been proved wrong: entrenched anatagonism between firms and regulators, and greater environmental harm, have proved to be the dominant outcomes. This text re-focuses environmental policy analysis by demonstrating how behavioural models can be applied within the field to better understand the propensity of firms to engage in pro-environmental, innovative activities. The book develops a tool for environmental policy analysis in the context of technical change. A rigorous theoretical and methodological framework is applied to identify sources of firms' willingness (or resistance) to engage in cleaner production and to evaluate under which conditions the firm's pro-environmental, innovative behaviour may be fostered. The author undertakes extensive research through a case study of the In-Bond industry in Mexico and assesses the significance and relationship of individual factors relating to a firm's innovative behaviour towards "greener" production.