State Adoption of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Target and Renewable Portfolio Standards

This thesis examines the driving forces behind the adoption of State GHG Emissions Target and Renewable Portfolio Standards. The thesis chooses event history analysis using binary time-series and cross-section data to do empirical analysis for the two policies. Based on the analysis, time trend, neighboring effect, state political system characteristics, relative strengths of interest groups and demographics of a specific state have, maybe not always significant, impact on adoption. At the level of variable groups, time trend, neighboring effect, state political system characteristics contribute significantly to explaining the adoption behavior of the two policies. Relative strengths of interest group variables are significant for State GHG Emission Targets but remain inconclusive for State Renewable Portfolio Standards.

Liang Li_Final Thesis.pdf (929.49 KB)

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