In this paper, we try to shed light on the question whether natural disasters, such as nuclear accidents, have an impact on policy makers’ activity in passing new green energy policies. Disruptive moments like exogenous shocks reinforce society’s disapproval against polluting technologies and should open a window of opportunities to eventually initiate a change toward green energy. Based on the data of 34 OECD countries, we disentangle the effect of disruptive exogenous shocks on countries’ policy activity. Starting with OLS regressions, we run several robustness checks by using a pre-sample mean approach, an ARDL technique called dynamic heterogeneous panel models (DHPM), which allows for the distinction between long- and short-run effects. The results corroborate the hypothesis that unexpected, disruptive events have a positive impact on the actual number of renewable energy policies. The fade-out time for shocks is about 7 years, leaving a positive long-term effect. Exogenous events such as nuclear disasters act as “focusing event” and seem to offer policy makers a window of opportunities to initiate conducive policy measures toward a cleaner economy. Furthermore, a country’s capacity in green technologies is key to a pervasive diffusion of green technologies.

中文翻译：

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我们需要灾难来采取更多的环境政策吗？

在本文中，我们试图阐明一个问题，即核事故等自然灾害是否会影响决策者通过新的绿色能源政策的活动。诸如外来冲击之类的破坏性时刻加剧了社会对污染技术的反对，并应为最终启动向绿色能源的转变打开机会之窗。根据34个经合组织国家的数据，我们弄清了破坏性外源性冲击对国家政策活动的影响。从OLS回归开始，我们通过使用样本前均值方法（一种称为动态异构面板模型（DHPM）的ARDL技术）来进行几种鲁棒性检查，该方法可以区分长期效果和短期效果。结果证实了以下假设：破坏性事件对可再生能源政策的实际数量产生积极影响。电击的淡出时间大约为7年，对长期效果有积极影响。核灾难等外来事件是“重点事件”，似乎为决策者提供了一个机会窗口，可采取措施采取有利于清洁经济的有益政策措施。此外，一个国家在绿色技术方面的能力是绿色技术广泛传播的关键。