Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:10:34.450Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adoption, reinvention and amendment of renewable portfolio standards in the American states

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2016

Sanya Carley ,
Sean Nicholson-Crotty  and
Chris J. Miller
Sanya Carley
Affiliation:
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Sean Nicholson-Crotty
Affiliation:
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Chris J. Miller
Affiliation:
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It has long been recognised that interstate diffusion of policy innovations is comprised of distinct decisions including adoption, reinvention and amendment. Interstate influences are an important driver of these diffusion processes, but studies to date have not investigated the degree to which external influences vary across these decisions. We theorise that geographical peers will have the largest impact in adoption decisions; that ideological peers are an important source of policy information when states make decisions about “reinventing” innovations adopted by others; and that internal factors will drive the decision by a state to amend a policy. We test these expectations for renewable portfolio standards in the American states between 1996 and 2009. Results suggest that state policymakers emulate peers in adoption or policy design choices, and that internal influences have a stronger influence on amendment decisions than do external influences. These findings further our understanding of policy diffusion and state-by-state relations.

Keywords

energy policypolicy diffusionpolicy reinventionrenewable portfolio standard
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 37 , Supplement 4 , December 2017 , pp. 431 - 458
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, R. and Clark, J. (1981) State Policy Adoption and Innovation: Lobbying and Education. State and Local Government Review 13(1): 18–25.Google Scholar
Balla, S. J. (2001) Interstate Professional Associations and the Diffusion of Policy Innovations. American Politics Research 29(3): 221–245.Google Scholar
Berry, F. S. and Berry, W. D. (1990) State Lottery Adoptions as Policy Innovations: An Event History Analysis. American Political Science Review 84(2): 395–415.Google Scholar
Berry, F. S. and Berry, W. D. (1992) Tax Innovation in the States: Capitalizing on Political Opportunity. American Journal of Political Science 36: 715–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, M. J., Laird, F. N. and Stefes, C. H. (2015) Driving Energy: The Enactment and Ambitiousness of State Renewable Energy Policy. Journal of Public Policy 35(2): 297–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, W. D., Fording, R. C., Ringquist, E. J., Hanson, R. L. and Klarner, C. E. (2010) Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the U.S. States: A Re-Appraisal. State Politics & Policy Quarterly 10 (2): 117–135.Google Scholar
Biesenbender, S. and Tosun, J. (2014) Domestic Politics and the Diffusion of International Policy Innovations: How Does Accommodation Happen? Global Environmental Change 29: 424–433.Google Scholar
Boehmke, F. J. (2009) Policy Emulation or Policy Convergence? Potential Ambiguities in the Dyadic Event History Approach to State Policy Emulation. The Journal of Politics 71(3): 1125–1140.Google Scholar
Boushey, G. (2010) Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) (2010) Regional Economic Accounts: Gross Domestic Product by State, http://www.bea.gov/regional/index.htm (accessed 24 November 2010).Google Scholar
Carley, S. and Miller, C. J. (2012) Regulatory Stringency and Policy Drivers: A Reassessment of Renewable Portfolio Standards. Policy Studies Journal 40(4): 730–756.Google Scholar
Chandler, J. (2009) Trendy Solutions: Why do States Adopt Sustainable Energy Portfolio Standards? Energy Policy 37(8): 3274–3281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, J. (1985) Policy Diffusion and Program Scope: Research Directions. Publius 15(4): 61–70.Google Scholar
Delmas, M., Russo, M. V. and Montes-Sancho, M. J. (2007) Deregulation and Environmental Differentiation in the Electric Utility Industry. Strategic Management Journal 28(2): 189–209.Google Scholar
Department of Energy (2011) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: Wind Powering America, http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_maps.asp (accessed 21 September 2011).Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Agency (2010) State CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion, http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/resources/state_energyco2inv.html (accessed 28 March 2012).Google Scholar
Gilardi, F. (2012) Transnational Diffusion: Norms, Ideas, and Policies. In Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A. Simmons (eds.), Handbook of International Relations, 2nd ed., Chapter 18. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 453–477.Google Scholar
Gilardi, F. and Füglister, K. (2008) Empirical Modeling of Policy Diffusion in Federal States: The Dyadic Approach. Swiss Political Science Review 14(3): 413–450.Google Scholar
Glick, H. R. (1992) Judicial Innovation and Policy Re-Invention: State Supreme Courts and the Right to Die. The Western Political Quarterly 45(1): 71–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glick, H. R. and Hays, S. P. (1991) Innovation and Reinvention in State Policymaking: Theory and the Evolution of Living Will Laws. Journal of Politics 53(3): 835–850.Google Scholar
Graham, E. R., Shipan, C. R. and Volden, C. (2013) The Diffusion of Policy Diffusion Research in Political Science. British Journal of Political Science 43(3): 673–701.Google Scholar
Gray, V. (1973) Innovation in the States: A Diffusion Study. American Political Science Review 67(4): 1174–1185.Google Scholar
Grossback, L. J., Nicholson-Crotty, S. and Peterson, D. A. M. (2004) Ideology and Learning in Policy Diffusion. American Politics Research 32(5): 521–545.Google Scholar
Haider-Markel, D. P. (2001) Policy Diffusion as a Geographical Expansion of the Scope of Political Conflict: Same-Sex Marriage Bans in the 1990s. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 1(1): 5–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, S. P. (1996a) Influences on Reinvention During the Diffusion of Innovations. Political Research Quarterly 49(3): 631–650.Google Scholar
Hays, S. P. (1996b) Patterns of Reinvention. Policy Studies Journal 24(4): 551–566.Google Scholar
Huang, M.-Y., Alavalapati, J. R. R., Carter, D. R. and Langholtz, M. H. (2007) Is the Choice of Renewable Portfolio Standards Random? Energy Policy 35(11): 5571–5575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, D. (2014) Policy Invention as Evolutionary Tinkering and Codification: The Emergence of Feed-In Tariffs for Renewable Electricity. Environmental Politics 23(5): 755–773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, A. and Huitema, D. (2014a) Innovations in Climate Policy: The Politics of Invention, Diffusion, and Evaluation. Environmental Politics 23(5): 715–734.Google Scholar
Jordan, A. and Huitema, D. (2014b) Innovations in Climate Policy: Conclusions and New Directions. Environmental Politics 23(5): 906–925.Google Scholar
Karch, A. (2007a) Democratic Laboratories: Policy Diffusion Among the American States. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karch, A. (2007b) Emerging Issues and Future Directions in State Policy Diffusion Research. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7(1): 54–80.Google Scholar
Lamothe, S. (2004) Across and Within State Reinvention of Workplace Drug Testing Legislation. Politics and Policy 32(4): 684–707.Google Scholar
Lyon, T. P. and Yin, H. (2010) Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?: An Empirical Investigation. The Energy Journal 31(3): 133–157.Google Scholar
Makse, T. and Volden, C. (2011) The Role of Policy Attributes in the Diffusion of Innovations. Journal of Politics 73(1): 108–124.Google Scholar
Matisoff, D. C. (2008) The Adoption of State Climate Change Policies and Renewable Portfolio Standards: Regional Diffusion or Internal Determinants? Review of Policy Research 25(6): 527–546.Google Scholar
Matisoff, D. C. and Edwards, J. (2014) Kindred Spirits or Intergovernmental Competition? The Innovation and Diffusion of Energy Policies in the American States (1990–2008). Environmental Politics 23(5): 795–817.Google Scholar
Mayhew, D. R. (1974) Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Mercure, J.-F., Pollitt, H., Chewpreecha, U., Salas, P., Foley, A. M., Holden, P. B. and Edwards, N. R. (2014) The Dynamics of Technology Diffusion and the Impacts of Climate Policy Instruments in the Decarbonisation of the Global Electricity Sector. Energy Policy 73: 686–700.Google Scholar
Mintrom, M. (1997) Policy Entrepreneurs and the Diffusion of Innovation. American Journal of Political Science 41(3): 738–770.Google Scholar
Mintrom, M. (2000) Policy Entrepreneurs and School Choice. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Mintrom, M. and Vergari, S. (1998) Policy Networks and Innovation Diffusion: The Case of State Education Reforms. Journal of Politics 60(1): 126–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooney, C. Z. and Lee, M.-H. (1995) Legislative Morality in the American States: The Case of Pre-Roe Abortion Regulation Reform. American Journal of Political Science 39(3): 599–627.Google Scholar
Mooney, C. Z. and Lee, M.-H. (1999) Morality Policy Reinvention: State Death Penalties. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 566(1): 80–92.Google Scholar
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (1991) Solar Radiation Data Manual for Flat-Plate and Concentrating Collectors, http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/ (accessed 3 January 2008).Google Scholar
NC Clean Energy Technology Center (2011) Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE), http://www.dsireusa.org (accessed 13 April 2011).Google Scholar
Nicholson-Crotty, S. (2009) The Politics of Diffusion: Public Policy in the American States. The Journal of Politics 71(1): 192–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pacheco, J. (2012) The Social Contagion Model: Exploring the Role of Public Opinion on the Diffusion of Antismoking Legislation Across the American States. The Journal of Politics 74(1): 187–202.Google Scholar
Rice, R. and Rogers, E. (1980) Reinvention in the Innovation Process. Knowledge 1(4): 499–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, E. M. (1995) Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Schaffer, L. M. and Bernauer, T. (2014) Explaining Government Choices for Promoting Renewable Energy. Energy Policy 68: 15–27.Google Scholar
Shipan, C. R. and Volden, C. (2006) Bottom-Up Federalism: The Diffusion of Antismoking Policies from U.S. Cities to States. American Journal of Political Science 50(4): 825–843.Google Scholar
Shipan, C. R. and Volden, C. (2008) The Mechanisms of Policy Diffusion. American Journal of Political Science 52(4): 840–857.Google Scholar
Shipan, C. R. and Volden, C. (2014) When the Smoke Clears: Expertise, Learning and Policy Diffusion. Journal of Public Policy 34(3): 357–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoutenborough, J. W. and Beverlin, M. (2008) Encouraging Pollution-Free Energy: The Diffusion of State Net Metering Policies. Social Science Quarterly 89(5): 1230–1251.Google Scholar
Tews, K., Busch, P.-O. and Jörgens, H. (2003) The Diffusion of New Environmental Policy Instruments. European Journal of Political Research 42(4): 569–600.Google Scholar
Tylock, S. M., Seager, T. P., Snell, J., Bennett, E. R. and Sweet, D. (2012) Energy Management Under Policy and Technology Uncertainty. Energy Policy 47: 156–163.Google Scholar
Upham, P., Kivimaa, P., Mickwitz, P. and Åstrand, K. (2014) Climate Policy Innovation: A Sociotechnical Transitions Perspective. Environmental Politics 23(5): 774–794.Google Scholar
US Census Bureau (1999, 2009) State Population Estimates: Annual Time Series. Population Estimates Program, Population Division, Washington, DC, http://www.census.gov/popest/data/historical/index.html (accessed 21 April 2012).Google Scholar
US Energy Information Administration (US EIA 2015) Average Retail Price of Electricity. Available at U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010. Electricity Price by State and End-User, 1990–2008. Retrieved from http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/ (accessed 5 January 2015).Google Scholar
van der Heiden, N. and Strebel, F. (2012) What About Non-Diffusion? The Effect of Competitiveness in Policy-Comparative Diffusion Research. Policy Sciences 45(4): 345–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volden, C. (2002) The Politics of Competitive Federalism: A Race to the Bottom in Welfare Benefits? American Journal of Political Science 46: 352–363.Google Scholar
Volden, C. (2006) States as Policy Laboratories: Emulating Success in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. American Journal of Political Science 50(2): 294–312.Google Scholar
Volden, C., Ting, M. and Carpenter, D. (2008) A Formal Model of Learning and Policy Diffusion. American Political Science Review 102(3): 319–332.Google Scholar
Voss, J.-P. and Simons, A. (2014) Instrument Constituencies and the Supply Side of Policy Innovation: The Social Life of Emissions Trading. Environmental Politics 23(5): 735–754.Google Scholar
Walker, J. L. (1969) The Diffusion of Innovations Among the American States. American Political Science Review 63(3): 880–899.Google Scholar
Wiener, J. G. and Koontz, T. M. (2010) Shifting Winds: Explaining Variation in State Policies to Promote Small-Scale Wind Energy. Policy Studies Journal 38(4): 629–651.Google Scholar
Wiser, R., Namovicz, C., Gielecki, M. and Smith, R. (2007) The Experience with Renewable Portfolio Standards in the United States. The Electricity Journal 20(4): 8–20.Google Scholar
Yi, H. and Feiock, R. C. (2012) Policy Tool Interactions and the Adoption of State Renewable Portfolio Standards. Review of Policy Research 29(2): 193–206.Google Scholar
Yin, H. and Powers, N. (2010) Do State Renewable Portfolio Standards Promote In-State Renewable Generation? Energy Policy 38(2): 1140–1149.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Carley supplementary material

Table A1

Download Carley supplementary material(File)
File 79.5 KB