@article{ausdemMooreBrehmGruhl, author = {aus dem Moore, Nils and Brehm, Johannes and Gruhl, Henri}, title = {Driving innovation? Carbon tax effects in the Swedish transport sector}, series = {Journal of Public Economics}, volume = {248}, journal = {Journal of Public Economics}, issn = {0047-2727}, doi = {10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105444}, abstract = {Does a carbon tax stimulate low-carbon innovation in the transport sector? We exploit an environmental tax reform in Sweden that introduced both a carbon and a value-added tax on transport fuels. Synthetic control estimates consistently find that the tax reform caused large and significant increases in low-carbon patents. We provide suggestive evidence that the carbon tax drives the effect while fuel price changes with comparable magnitude did not significantly affect low-carbon innovation. Our findings suggest that salient carbon prices may foster low-carbon innovation more effectively than fuel price elasticity estimates suggest.}, language = {en} }