Climate

Abstract:

We aim to stimulate discussion on how innovation research within marketing can use a better world (BW) perspective to help innovation become a driver of positive change in the world. In this "Challenging the Boundaries" series paper, we hope to provide purposeful research opportunities for scholars seeking to bridge innovation research with the BW movement. We frame our discussion with four areas of innovation research in marketing that are particularly relevant to BW objectives.

 Significance:

The Austrian capital has been spared the worst of recent flooding. Its experience could be a lesson in how to tackle the climate crisis.

In this paper we assess the economic impacts of moving to a renewable-dominated grid in the US. We use projections of capital costs to develop price bounds on future wholesale power prices at the local geographic level. We then use a class of spatial general equilibrium models to estimate the effect on wages and output of prices falling below these bounds in the medium term. Power prices fall anywhere between 20% and 80%, depending on local solar resources, leading to an aggregate real wage gain of 2-3%.

The extent of future climate change is largely a policy choice. We illuminate this choice with climate policy curves (CPCs), which link climate policies to subsequent global temperatures. The estimated downward sloping CPCs highlight the key trade-off between initial policy ambition, expressed via an overall effective carbon price, and the subsequent policy burden left for future generations. We also demonstrate how different CPCs can illustrate the range of climate policy paths towards attaining the Paris Agreement temperature goals.

As concern with climate change increases, people seek to behave and consume sustainably. This requires understanding which behaviours, firms and industries have the greatest impact on emissions. Here we ask if people are knowledgeable enough to make choices that align with growing sustainability intentions.