Collaborative Research: How Policy Affects Power Plants in an Age of Experimentalist Governance

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This project tests the effects of various policies on the emissions and water usage of power plants. In addition, it investigates how the effectiveness of these policies is affected by countries' income distribution, entrepreneurial activity, government centralization, and concentration of utility assets. This study uses data compiled by the IEA and the World Resources Institute. Findings from this project promise to advance the field of policy research and especially our understanding of consequences of the rapid diffusion of policy instruments around the world. By determining how national conditions such as entrepreneurial activity weaken or strengthen the potency of policies, results also can aid government decisions about which evidence-based programs are best suited for promoting a particular nation's health and welfare. Data for this project comes from merging the WRI's newly created Power Watch dataset on the emissions and water usage of over 20,000 power plants in 190 countries (2004 to 2014) with the IEA's database on domestic policies. The following hypotheses are tested: 1) policies are more likely to decrease emissions in countries with less inequality, 2) policies are more effective in settings that strongly support entrepreneurial activity, 3) policies on use and policies on effects work less well together within moderately centralized governance systems, and 4) policies are more apt to increase the emissions and water consumption of plants when the plants are owned by companies that dominate domestic electricity markets. This project provides new evidence on the effectiveness of individual policies, but also sheds light on their trade-offs and the circumstances under which they are more and less compatible. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.