Inequality, democracy and green technological change

This work analyses the factors influencing the development of new eco-friendly innovations. We focused our attention in particular on the role played by income distribution and government institutions, two elements which impact is generally neglected by the existing academic literature. Thanks to a long cross-sectional panel at country level, results show that inequality reduction, economic growth and democratization played a key role in supporting green technological change, and that their effect is complementary. In light of these findings, redistribution policies combined with democratization became vital for the diffusion of green technologies.