We explore the power of behavioral economic insights to influence the level of households' recycling and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) by examining the effectiveness of a green nudge, the adoption of a Clear Bag Policy that was implemented in 2015 in a mid-size urban municipality in Canada. Using a Regression Discontinuity (RD) Design on universe administrative data, our analysis shows that this green nudge promoted recycling, and reduced both refuse and total MSW. While recycling increased by 15 percent, total MSW decreased by 27 percent overall between August 2015 and July 2017. Our results also demonstrate heterogeneity in response to a Clear Bag Policy across neighborhoods with varying socioeconomic indicators. Our findings suggest that green nudges can serve as effective policy instruments in devising future environment policies.
Research and Development (R&D) has often been cited as key to promote the development of clean technologies in both the short and long run. Robust economic performance for clean technology firms may occur in countries in which research and development is conducted by governments as well as by businesses. The goal of this paper is to examine how private and public R&D affects firm profitability. Utilizing an international data set of clean technology firms, this study finds performance of clean technology firms to be quite favorable when compared to firms in the MSCI World index. The study examines how different countries perform in these industries. Finally, the impact both corporate and public R&D have had on these firms' performance is analyzed. 2 See n.1 above for more detailed information.
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