| Against the backdrop of increasingly vigorous debates in state legislatures over climate change mitigation strategies, this dissertation examines the effectiveness of policy incentives designed to encourage the adoption of solar photovoltaic systems in the residential sector. Utilizing panel data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2012, this study controls for critical non-policy covariates including economic, environmental, and socio-demographic factors as well as an array of solar market factors including marketing effort, the number of solar installers within a state, and the support of utilities for renewable energy. Moreover, instrumental variables are used to address possible endogeneity. The results indicate that although financial incentives generally have a statistically significant, positive effect on solar PV installation rates, high electricity prices and the falling retail price of solar PV equipment have a stronger influence on solar technology diffusion at the state level. |
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