Global climate change mitigation technology diffusion: A network perspective
从网络视角研究全球气候变化减缓技术扩散，以跨国公司为网络构建者，利用专利和公司数据构建扩散网络，分析网络资本对技术发展的影响，发现网络效应显著且存在全球差异。
There is a rapidly growing number of studies on transnational climate change mitigation technology (CCMT) diffusion. Most of these studies have adopted a bilateral perspective, treating countries as primary agents driving the diffusion process. However, CCMT diffusion typically arises from the interactions between firms and involves strong network effects. In this paper, we explore the global CCMT diffusion from a network perspective, with multinational corporations (MNCs) as network makers. We first propose a methodology to construct the global CCMT diffusion networks, leveraging CCMT-related patent data, intra-firm relationships, and business scales of the selected MNCs. We then calculate the network capital for each country, utilizing it as the input for the econometric analysis to investigate the network effects on CCMT development. The network statistical analysis reveals an uneven geographical distribution of network capital, underscoring the presence of global disparities in CCMT development. Moreover, the econometric analysis identifies significant network effects originating from linkage volumes and structural positionalities within the CCMT diffusion networks.