Cleaner firms or cleaner products? How product mix shapes emission intensity from manufacturing

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Year: 2018
Volume: 88
Issue: C
Pages: 134-158

Authors (2)

Barrows, Geoffrey (not in RePEc) Ollivier, Hélène (Paris School of Economics)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We explore the contribution of product mix in determining firm and aggregate emission intensity. First, using detailed firm-product emission intensity data from India, we find that more efficient firms are less emission intensive, and that products with the largest sales tend to be cleaner than other products within the firm. We also find that emission intensity in India dropped significantly between 1990-2010 through reallocations across firms, while product mix played a counteracting role in increasing firm emission intensity. Next, we develop a multi-product multi-factor model with heterogeneous firms, variable markups, and monopolistic competition in which each product has a specific emission intensity. We find that pro-competitive market developments lead to an improvement in the aggregate emission intensity – through reallocations across firms – even though firms can become dirtier or cleaner through product mix. This theoretical result fits particularly well the empirical facts.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jeeman:v:88:y:2018:i:c:p:134-158
Journal Field
Environment
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-26