Authors
Morris A Cohen, Shiliang Cui, Fei Gao
Publication date
2019/3/15
Journal
Available at SSRN 3291017
Description
We study competing fi rms' green product design decisions, and the effect of two common types of government support, namely R&D support and sales subsidies, on the products, firms and the resulting environmental impact. Each fi rm produces a product that contains a" traditional" quality and an" environmental" quality according to corresponding technology capabilities of the firm and market competition. Our main results are as follows. First, we show that fi rms will produce greener products and charge higher prices when they embrace greater technology capabilities related to production of the environmental quality, or when consumers become more conscious of the environmental impact. Second, we find that although both the government R&D support and sales subsidies prompt fi rms to produce greener products, the overall environmental impact is mixed. Specifi cally, while sales subsidies generally lead to positive environmental benefi ts, R&D support can have an unanticipated negative overall impact on the environment. Third, we show that fi rms do not always benefi t from either type of the government support.
Total citations
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