Study of Energy Price-Induced Effects on Technological Changes in Iran's Industrial Plants and Assessing Environmental Outcomes

Energy is one of the main factors affecting the economic growth and development of the countries. Due to the scarcity of some energy resources and their non-renewability، new ways to decrease energy consumption should be pursued in order to secure sustainable development and future generations’ benefits. So in this paper the effect of energy induced price on technology change and the extent of pollution emission in industries is studied. The statistical populationconsists of Iranian industries including 21 industries (two-digit isic code) is investigated over the period of 1995-2007. In this study، using direct distance function and the effect of energy price on the extent of technology change and pollution using productivity change index (PCI) is investigated by specified model.  The results indicate that there is no relationship between technological changes and relative prices of Iniran energy during the studied period. Also، there found a direct relationship between relative prices of energy and pollution during the period.