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Climate Change, Gender Equality, and Firm-Level Innovation : Cross-Country Evidence
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Climate Change, Gender Equality, and Firm-Level Innovation : Cross-Country Evidence

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  • Abdulla, Eman

    (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)

  • Lim, King Yoong

    (International Business School Suzhou, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University)

  • Morris, Diego

    (Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University)

  • Saliba, Faten

    (International Monetary Fund)

Abstract

This paper examines the nexus between gender equality, climate change, and innovation at the firm level. Based on three hypotheses derived from a novel theoretical framework linking climate change and gender equality to within-firm innovation activities, we use a cross-section dataset of 87, 996 firms across 36 industries in 103 countries, surveyed across different waves during the 2010-2020 periods to implement an instrumental variable strategy and show that environmental policies unambiguously induce firm-level process and product innovation, through its influence on the endogenous bargaining power of women in society and firms. We document that female productivity has both a direct effect on innovation (0.1-1.3% increase in the likelihood of innovation) and an indirect effect (serving as the intermediation for the environment-innovation nexus). Contrarily, greenhouse gas emissions by themselves have an ambiguous effect on innovation. The type of greenhouse gas emissions and the measure of innovation both contribute to this ambiguity. Overall, our results show that it is not the physics of climate change that induces innovation but rather the countervailing human responses to policies that mitigate climate change that stimulate innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdulla, Eman & Lim, King Yoong & Morris, Diego & Saliba, Faten, 2022. "Climate Change, Gender Equality, and Firm-Level Innovation : Cross-Country Evidence," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1429, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:1429
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    Keywords

    Climate change ; firm-level analysis ; gender equality ; innovation. JEL Codes: D24 ; J16 ; L25 ; O32 ; Q58;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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