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Green returns of labor income and human capital: Empirical evidence of the environmental behavior of households in developing countries

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  • Ponce, Pablo
  • Alvarado, Rafael
  • Ponce, Katerine
  • Alvarado, Raquel
  • Granda, Danny
  • Yaguana, Karen

Abstract

An important part of the environmental contamination comes from the daily practices of the households, which has been partially ignored in the recent empirical literature. The objective of this research is to examine the green returns of labor income and human capital in a developing country, Ecuador. We use data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (NISC) during 2010–2016 and panel data econometrics techniques. Our results show that labor income and human capital plays a relevant role in the environmental behavior of households in this country: both variables have a positive effect on the friendly environmental behavior of households. In addition, we found that the cantons11A canton is an administrative unit of second order and territorial division. Ecuador has 24 provinces. Each province is made up of cantons. The country has 221 cantons. specialized in manufacturing have a poor environmental performance, while the cantons specializing in services do not have a clear pattern. We also don't find significant differences in the environmental behavior associated with the composition of the ethnic groups of each canton. Finally, natural geographic regions generate differences in the environmental behavior of households. One possible implication derived from this research is that those responsible for environmental policy can mitigate pollution by promoting educational programs with environmental content and encouraging improvements in the behavior of households using tax mechanisms.

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  • Ponce, Pablo & Alvarado, Rafael & Ponce, Katerine & Alvarado, Raquel & Granda, Danny & Yaguana, Karen, 2019. "Green returns of labor income and human capital: Empirical evidence of the environmental behavior of households in developing countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 105-113.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:160:y:2019:i:c:p:105-113
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.02.012
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental behavior of households; Labor income; Human capital; Panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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