http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/3320/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/15020/ 2009-05-01T00:00:00Z We evaluate the impact of technology adoption subsidies on investment behavior in an individual choice experiment. In a laboratory setting professional managers are confronted with an intertemporal decision problem in which they have to decide whether or not to search for, and possibly adopt, a new technology. Technologies differ in the per-period benefits they yield, and their purchase price increases with the per-period benefits provided. We introduce a subsidy on the more expensive technologies (that also yield larger per-period benefits), and find that the subsidy scheme induces agents to search for and adopt these more expensive technologies even though the subsidy itself is too small to render these technologies profitable. We speculate that the result is driven by the positive connotation (affect) that the concept 'subsidy' invokes. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/10750/ 2007-10-25T00:00:00Z We evaluate the impact of technology adoption subsidies on in- vestment behavior in an individual choice experiment. In a laboratory setting professional managers are confronted with an intertemporal decision problem in which they have to decide whether or not to search for, and possibly adopt, a new technology. Technologies differ in the per-period benefits they yield, and their purchase price increases with the per-period benefits provided. We introduce a subsidy on the more expensive technologies (that also yield the larger per-period benefits), and find that the subsidy scheme induces agents to search for and adopt these more expensive technologies even though the subsidy itself is too small to render these technologies profitable. We speculate that the result is driven by the positive connotation (affect) that the concept 'subsidy' invokes. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/826/ 2003-09-04T00:00:00Z In the literature, attention has been paid to the environmental consequences of lower energy prices caused by market liberalisation: the drop in energy prices reduces the attractiveness of investing in energy-saving technologies. In this paper we develop a simple model of investment decision-making emphasising the importance of not only levels but also volatility of energy prices for actual investment behaviour. The general finding is that lower energy prices and higher uncertainty reduce the propensity to invest. To empirically assess the importance of changes in both levels and volatility, we use US natural gas price data over the market liberalisation period and apply the information to the investment decision with respect to a specific energy-saving technology in the paper industry. We find that energy market liberalisation reduces the propensity to invest in energy-saving technologies substantially, not only because of the lower energy price but also because of its increased volatility. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/813/ 2003-09-02T00:00:00Z As part of the Kyoto Protocol, many countries have committed themselves to substantially reduce the emission of greenhouse gases within a politically imposed time constraint. Investment subsidies can be an important instrument to stimulate the adoption of energy-saving technologies to achieve emission reduction targets. This paper addresses the impact of adoption subsidies on the amount of energy savings, taking into account both the endogenous and uncertain nature of technological progress. Neglecting these two characteristics of technological progress tends to result in overestimation of the short-run effectiveness of investment subsidies, whereas the long-run effects are ambiguous.