IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v101y2021ics0140988321003108.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religiosity and climate change policies

Author

Listed:
  • Sharma, Swati
  • Ang, James B.
  • Fredriksson, Per G.

Abstract

National climate change policies vary considerably across countries. This study explores how a country's adoption of climate change policies is influenced by its population's level of religiosity. We update and extend an existing cross-country index of climate change policy stringency. The cross-country analysis suggests that countries with populations exhibiting greater religious fervor tend to adopt less stringent climate change policies. Our findings shed new light on how a cultural dimension affects contemporary policy outcomes and may help policymakers identify obstacles to climate change policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharma, Swati & Ang, James B. & Fredriksson, Per G., 2021. "Religiosity and climate change policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:101:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321003108
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105414
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988321003108
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105414?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    2. Gilat Levy & Ronny Razin, 2012. "Religious Beliefs, Religious Participation, and Cooperation," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 121-151, August.
    3. Carolyn Fischer & Grant D. Jacobsen, 2021. "The Green New Deal And The Future Of Carbon Pricing," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 988-995, June.
    4. Olijslagers, Stan & van der Ploeg, Frederick & van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 2023. "On current and future carbon prices in a risky world," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    5. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    6. Roland Bénabou & Davide Ticchi & Andrea Vindigni, 2015. "Religion and Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 346-351, May.
    7. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    8. Hof, Andries F. & den Elzen, Michel G.J. & Admiraal, Annemiek & Roelfsema, Mark & Gernaat, David E.H.J. & van Vuuren, Detlef P., 2017. "Global and regional abatement costs of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and of enhanced action to levels well below 2°C and 1.5°C," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 30-40.
    9. Stefan Farsang & Marion Louvel & Chaoshuai Zhao & Mohamed Mezouar & Angelika D. Rosa & Remo N. Widmer & Xiaolei Feng & Jin Liu & Simon A. T. Redfern, 2021. "Deep carbon cycle constrained by carbonate solubility," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    10. Filipe Campante & David Yanagizawa-Drott, 2015. "Editor's Choice Does Religion Affect Economic Growth and Happiness? Evidence from Ramadan," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 615-658.
    11. Enrico Botta & Tomasz Koźluk, 2014. "Measuring Environmental Policy Stringency in OECD Countries: A Composite Index Approach," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1177, OECD Publishing.
    12. Stephen Chaudoin & David Smith & Johannes Urpelainen, 2014. "American evangelicals and domestic versus international climate policy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 441-469, December.
    13. Greif, Avner, 1994. "Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 912-950, October.
    14. Roland Bénabou & Davide Ticchi & Andrea Vindigni, 2022. "Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth [Economic Backwardness in Political Perspective]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(4), pages 1785-1832.
    15. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    16. Anderson, Gary M, 1988. "Mr. Smith and the Preachers: The Economics of Religion in the Wealth of Nations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(5), pages 1066-1088, October.
    17. Owen, Ann L. & Videras, Julio R., 2007. "Culture and public goods: The case of religion and the voluntary provision of environmental quality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 162-180, September.
    18. Ang, James B. & Fredriksson, Per G., 2021. "Does an early start help or hurt? Statehood, institutions and modern climate change policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Galiani,Sebastian & Sened,Itai (ed.), 2014. "Institutions, Property Rights, and Economic Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107041554.
    20. McCleary, Rachel & Barro, Robert, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth across Countries," Scholarly Articles 3708464, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    21. Christine Bertram & Martin Quaas & Thorsten B. H. Reusch & Athanasios T. Vafeidis & Claudia Wolff & Wilfried Rickels, 2021. "The blue carbon wealth of nations," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(8), pages 704-709, August.
    22. Hope, Aimie L.B. & Jones, Christopher R., 2014. "The impact of religious faith on attitudes to environmental issues and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies: A mixed methods study," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 48-59.
    23. Lewis C. King & Jeroen C. J. M. Bergh, 2021. "Potential carbon leakage under the Paris Agreement," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 1-19, April.
    24. Robert J. Barro & Rachel McCleary, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 9682, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Eric Chaney, 2013. "Revolt on the Nile: Economic Shocks, Religion, and Political Power," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(5), pages 2033-2053, September.
    26. Tol, Richard S.J., 2019. "A social cost of carbon for (almost) every country," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 555-566.
    27. Matthew B. Arbuckle & David M. Konisky, 2015. "The Role of Religion in Environmental Attitudes," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1244-1263, November.
    28. John Evans & Justin Feng, 2013. "Conservative Protestantism and skepticism of scientists studying climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 121(4), pages 595-608, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vu, Trung V., 2021. "Do genetically fragmented societies respond less to global warming? Diversity and climate change policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    2. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2022. "Protestantism and energy poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Li, Jiajia & Li, Houjian, 2022. "Spiritual support or living support: Which alleviates solid fuel use for rural households in ethnical minority regions of China?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 479-491.
    4. Abdulla, Eman & Lim, King Yoong & Morris, Diego & Saliba, Faten, 2022. "Climate Change, Gender Equality, and Firm-Level Innovation : Cross-Country Evidence," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1429, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    5. Mohanty, Aatishya & Sharma, Swati, 2022. "COVID-19 regulations, culture, and the environment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Leslie, Gordon W. & Pourkhanali, Armin & Roger, Guillaume, 2022. "Electricity consumption, ethnic origin and religion," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    7. Tadadjeu, Sosson & Njangang, Henri & Woldemichael, Andinet, 2023. "Are resource-rich countries less responsive to global warming? Oil wealth and climate change policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    8. Per G. Fredriksson & Aatishya Mohanty, 2022. "COVID-19 Regulations, Political Institutions, and the Environment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(2), pages 323-353, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James B. Ang, 2015. "Agricultural Legacy, Individualistic Culture, and Techology Adoption," Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series 1506, Nanyang Technological University, School of Social Sciences, Economic Growth Centre.
    2. Esteban, Joan & Levy, Gilat & Mayoral, Laura, 2018. "Liberté, égalité... religiosité," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87659, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Esteban, Joan & Levy, Gilat & Mayoral, Laura, 2019. "Personal liberties, religiosity, and effort," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Esteban, Joan & Levy, Gilat & Mayoral, Laura, 2018. "Liberté, égalité…religiosité," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 241-253.
    5. Abellán, Miguel, 2023. "Catholics, Protestants and Muslims: Similar work ethics, different social and political ethics," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 778-815.
    6. Samuel Bazzi & Gabriel Koehler-Derrick & Benjamin Marx, 2020. "The Institutional Foundations of Religious Politics: Evidence from Indonesia [“The Classical Islamic Law of Waqf: A Concise Introduction”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 845-911.
    7. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/68bdjcjoob8kh8nu5vcmetkbf3 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/71lh5oncqk84tbb1d1a8gujtq6 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Guerzoni, Marco & Jordan, Alexander, 2016. "“Cursed is the ground because of you”: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Adoption of Fertilizers in Rural Ethiopia," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201605, University of Turin.
    10. Zhang, Yi & Liu, Chun, 2021. "Religion and unproductive entrepreneurship: The role of risk aversion," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/68bdjcjoob8kh8nu5vcmetkbf3 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Djankov, Simeon & Nikolova, Elena, 2018. "Communism as the unhappy coming," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 708-721.
    13. Oscar Zapata, 2018. "Turning to God in Tough Times? Human Versus Material Losses from Climate Disasters in Canada," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 259-281, October.
    14. Alexander Jordan & Marco Guerzoni, 2021. "“Cursed is the ground because of you”:," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 853-890, July.
    15. Dobler, Constanze, 2009. "The impact of institutions, culture, and religion on per capita income," Violette Reihe: Schriftenreihe des Promotionsschwerpunkts "Globalisierung und Beschäftigung" 28/2009, University of Hohenheim, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Evangelisches Studienwerk.
    16. Vu, Trung V., 2021. "Do genetically fragmented societies respond less to global warming? Diversity and climate change policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    17. Riccardo Turati, 2020. "Network-based Connectedness and the Diffusion of Cultural Traits," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2020012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    18. Claudia Williamson & Rachel Mathers, 2011. "Economic freedom, culture, and growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 313-335, September.
    19. Breuer, Janice Boucher & McDermott, John, 2013. "Respect, responsibility, and development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 36-47.
    20. Jeanet Sinding Bentzen & Gunes Gokmen, 2023. "The power of religion," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 45-78, March.
    21. Min Maung & Zhenyang Tang & Xiaowei Xu, 2020. "Religion and venture investing: A cross‐country analysis," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 433-460, August.
    22. Klasing, Mariko J., 2013. "Cultural dimensions, collective values and their importance for institutions," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 447-467.
    23. Teodor Sedlarski, 2022. "Individualism, collectivism, social capital, and economic development," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 171-204.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; Environment; Policy; International cooperation; Religion; Culture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:101:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321003108. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.