About this event
The transition towards renewable energy could play a key role in the local economic development of peripheral and lagging-behind regions, where the natural resources needed for the generation of green renewable energy are usually located. This could allow many peripheral regions across developed countries, once dependent on mature declining industries, to regenerate their local economies by sustainably transitioning towards new higher added-value green industries. This is the first study analysing the impact of investment in offshore wind energy on the local economic development of peripheral regions in the UK. We apply an instrumental variable approach to address endogeneity, using granular data to model the probability of wind farms’ locations based on offshore natural characteristics. In this way we identify the causal impact of offshore wind farms on the economic development of local onshore coastal communities in the UK, linked through the location of infrastructures servicing these farms. We find positive effects of investment in offshore wind energy capacity both on employment (+10%) and on firm entry (+20%), with stronger effects in local labour markets around key infrastructure servicing offshore wind farms. This is mainly driven by service and high-productivity industries related to the offshore wind energy industry, with positive effects also for lagging-behind places, but not for the most deprived areas, with long-term effects beyond the construction period.
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This event will take place in SAL 2.04, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.
The building is labelled
SAL
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