Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Diffusion of Innovations: Insights from Sustainable Energy Transition in the U.S. and Europe

(Natural Resource Security, Energy and Environmental Policy)

This panel consists of studies on diffusion of policy and technology innovation in the energy and climate change arena. It will explore factors that explain the variation in clean energy policy adoption and technology implementation at multiple governance levels in the U.S. and Europe. Some scholar in this panel is interested in the role of social capital in motivating climate change entrepreneurship at the city-level of Slovenia. Others focus on diffusion mechanisms of learning, emulation and competition. They examine the impacts of information exchange networks and geographic proximity on state-level and city-level energy policy adoption in the U.S. Another paper views technology diffusion as an outcome of policy implementation, and investigates how public policies and social contextual changes affect the diffusion rates of smart meters across American states. Together these four studies bring diverse perspectives from diffusion and public policy theory, including policy adoption and diffusion, social capital, technology diffusion, and policy implementation. This will help further our understanding of the factors that motivate governments’ actions towards a sustainable energy future. By bringing together diffusion studies on both policy and technology, it will also offer a unique perspective to understand the linkage between government policy adoption and the outcome of policy implementation. In addition, this panel will present a wide range of methodologies and analytical approaches in diffusion studies, including surveys, interviews, event history analysis, and fixed effects models, etc. This diversity will provide strong empirical evidence to help answer the question of how to effectively improve the policy making process and government performance to promote clean energy and sustainability, which fits nicely with the evidence-based theme of this year’s conference.