It spurs innovation! At least according to this Nature summary of an article in Environmental Science and Technology. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon studied the time history of patents relating to “scrubbing” of SO2 and found a significant correlation with new regulations forcing cleaner emissions from coal-fired power plants. Similar correlations seem to be there for nitrogen oxide emission regulations. Now, maybe this doesn’t seem surprising; however some people have problems accepting just about any form of government regulation.