Neoliberal Organizational and Political-Legal Arrangements and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U.S. Electrical Energy Sector

Abstract

ABSTRACT An organizational political economy perspective is elaborated to explain greenhouse gas emissions in the high polluting U.S. electrical energy industry. The analysis includes an examination of neoliberal organizational and political-legal arrangements and how the managerial class in parent companies make substantively different strategic investment decisions that affect greenhouse gas emissions. The quantitative analysis examines the effects of corporate characteristics and political embeddedness greenhouse gas emissions in the high-polluting energy sector. Findings show that parent company size, organizational complexity, political embeddedness, and the interaction of size and political embeddedness in the largest electrical energy producing corporations effect their greenhouse gas emissions.