These markets shield products from full commercial competition in the initial stages of product development, based on the expectation that some end-users would be willing to pay a higher price for high-quality technologies, and that as a result these technologies will not need to be subsidized. However, as there are few niches today in which cost-insensitive end-users are willing to pay for environmental public goods, this strategy is less appropriate for green technologies. As discussed below, policies aimed at market formation include environmental regulations, minimum production quotas, public procurement policies, subsidies and feed-in tariffs, as well as risk-sharing policies designed to encourage greater private sector investment.