Productivity Effects of Technology Diffusion Induced by an Energy Tax

In the political discussion, the economy-wide effects of an energy tax have gained considerable attention. So far, macroeconomic analyses have focused on either (positive or negative) costs triggered by an energy tax, or on the efficiency gains resulting from new energy taxes combined with lower distortionary taxes. By contrast, the innovative effects of climate protection measures have not yet been thoroughly analysed. This paper explores the productivity effects of a 50 per cent energy tax in the German industry sector employing a technology-based, three-step bottom-up approach. In the first step, the extensive IKARUS database is used to identify the technological adjustments arising from an energy tax. In the second step, the technologies are classified into different clusters. In the third step, the productivity effects generated by the technological adjustments are examined. The results imply that an energy tax induces mainly sector-specific and process-integrated technologies rather than add-on and cross-cutting technologies. Further, it is shown that the energy-saving technologies tend to increase productivity. This is particularly the case for process-integrated, sector-specific technologies.