IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeeman/v105y2021ics0095069620301236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of culture on energy efficient vehicle ownership

Author

Listed:
  • Filippini, Massimo
  • Wekhof, Tobias

Abstract

We provide an empirical analysis on the relation between culture and revealed environmental preferences. Switzerland's citizens share the same set of institutions but belong to multiple population groups, which differ by culture and language across distinct geographical locations. This unique setting allows us to disentangle the effect of culture on individual consumer preferences from institutional characteristics. We analyze the effect of culture on energy efficient vehicle registration, using municipality level data and applying a spatial fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design at the internal French/German language border. Our results indicate that French-speaking municipalities have a 3 to 6 percentage points higher share of energy efficient vehicles, compared to their German-speaking counterparts. These findings suggest that French-speakers place a higher value on the environment, which may be due to their higher sense of collectivism and altruism.

Suggested Citation

  • Filippini, Massimo & Wekhof, Tobias, 2021. "The effect of culture on energy efficient vehicle ownership," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:105:y:2021:i:c:s0095069620301236
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2020.102400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069620301236
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeem.2020.102400?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Atkin, 2016. "The Caloric Costs of Culture: Evidence from Indian Migrants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(4), pages 1144-1181, April.
    2. Peter H. Egger & Andrea Lassmann, 2015. "The Causal Impact of Common Native Language on International Trade: Evidence from a Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 699-745, May.
    3. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2009. "The dynamics of environmentalism and the environment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2842-2849, September.
    4. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Alfred Marshall Lecture Social Capital as Good Culture," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 295-320, 04-05.
    5. Pahl-Wostl, Claudia & Tabara, David & Bouwen, Rene & Craps, Marc & Dewulf, Art & Mostert, Erik & Ridder, Dagmar & Taillieu, Tharsi, 2008. "The importance of social learning and culture for sustainable water management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 484-495, January.
    6. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    7. Garth Heutel & Erich Muehlegger, 2015. "Consumer Learning and Hybrid Vehicle Adoption," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(1), pages 125-161, September.
    8. Bisin, Alberto & Patacchini, Eleonora & Verdier, Thierry & Zenou, Yves, 2011. "Formation and persistence of oppositional identities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1046-1071.
    9. Cristian Huse & Claudio Lucinda, 2014. "The Market Impact and the Cost of Environmental Policy: Evidence from the Swedish Green Car Rebate," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(578), pages 393-419, August.
    10. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression‐Discontinuity Designs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2295-2326, November.
    11. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2015. "The endogenous formation of an environmental culture," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 200-221.
    12. Stephenson, Janet & Barton, Barry & Carrington, Gerry & Gnoth, Daniel & Lawson, Rob & Thorsnes, Paul, 2010. "Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6120-6129, October.
    13. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Frank Verboven, 2001. "The Evolution of Price Dispersion in the European Car Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(4), pages 811-848.
    14. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2007. "Social Capital as Good Culture," NBER Working Papers 13712, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Tjernström, E. & Tietenberg, T., 2008. "Do differences in attitudes explain differences in national climate change policies?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 315-324, April.
    16. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased US Gasoline Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 667-699, June.
    17. Gentili, Elena & Masiero, Giuliano & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2017. "The role of culture in long-term care arrangement decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 186-200.
    18. Falk, A. & Becker, A. & Dohmen, T.J. & Enke, B. & Huffman, D. & Sunde, U., 2015. "The nature and predictive power of preferences: Global evidence," Research Memorandum 039, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    19. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Gerard Roland, 2017. "Culture, Institutions, and the Wealth of Nations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 402-416, July.
    20. 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.
    21. Beatrix Eugster & Rafael Lalive & Andreas Steinhauer & Josef Zweimüller, 2017. "Culture, Work Attitudes, and Job Search: Evidence from the Swiss Language Border," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(5), pages 1056-1100.
    22. Kahn, Matthew E., 2007. "Do greens drive Hummers or hybrids? Environmental ideology as a determinant of consumer choice," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 129-145, September.
    23. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2013. "Energy Conservation “Nudges” And Environmentalist Ideology: Evidence From A Randomized Residential Electricity Field Experiment," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 680-702, June.
    24. Chandra, Ambarish & Gulati, Sumeet & Kandlikar, Milind, 2010. "Green drivers or free riders? An analysis of tax rebates for hybrid vehicles," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 78-93, September.
    25. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano, 2015. "Culture and Institutions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(4), pages 898-944, December.
    26. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1082-1095, October.
    27. Welsch, Heinz & Kühling, Jan, 2009. "Determinants of pro-environmental consumption: The role of reference groups and routine behavior," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 166-176, November.
    28. Sutter, Matthias & Angerer, Silvia & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp, 2018. "Language group differences in time preferences: Evidence from primary school children in a bilingual city," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 21-34.
    29. Bezin, Emeline, 2015. "A cultural model of private provision and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 109-124.
    30. Bisin, Alberto & Verdier, Thierry, 2001. "The Economics of Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 298-319, April.
    31. Sylvain Weber & Paul Burger & Mehdi Farsi & Adan L. Martinez-Cruz & Michael Puntiroli & Iljana Schubert & Benjamin Volland, 2017. "Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey (SHEDS): Objectives, design, and implementation," IRENE Working Papers 17-14, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    32. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    33. Wilhite, Harold & Nakagami, Hidetoshi & Masuda, Takashi & Yamaga, Yukiko & Haneda, Hiroshi, 1996. "A cross-cultural analysis of household energy use behaviour in Japan and Norway," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(9), pages 795-803, September.
    34. Filippini, Massimo & Heimsch, Fabian, 2016. "The regional impact of a CO2 tax on gasoline demand: A spatial econometric approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 85-100.
    35. Hoyos, David & Mariel, Petr & Fernández-Macho, Javier, 2009. "The influence of cultural identity on the WTP to protect natural resources: Some empirical evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2372-2381, June.
    36. Sexton, Steven E. & Sexton, Alison L., 2014. "Conspicuous conservation: The Prius halo and willingness to pay for environmental bona fides," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 303-317.
    37. Arie Beresteanu & Shanjun Li, 2011. "Gasoline Prices, Government Support, And The Demand For Hybrid Vehicles In The United States," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(1), pages 161-182, February.
    38. Gallagher, Kelly Sims & Muehlegger, Erich, 2011. "Giving green to get green? Incentives and consumer adoption of hybrid vehicle technology," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 1-15, January.
    39. Delmas, Magali A. & Lessem, Neil, 2014. "Saving power to conserve your reputation? The effectiveness of private versus public information," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 353-370.
    40. John Novembre & Toby Johnson & Katarzyna Bryc & Zoltán Kutalik & Adam R. Boyko & Adam Auton & Amit Indap & Karen S. King & Sven Bergmann & Matthew R. Nelson & Matthew Stephens & Carlos D. Bustamante, 2008. "Genes mirror geography within Europe," Nature, Nature, vol. 456(7219), pages 274-274, November.
    41. Beatrix Eugster & Rafael Lalive & Andreas Steinhauer & Josef Zweimüller, 2011. "The Demand for Social Insurance: Does Culture Matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(556), pages 413-448, November.
    42. Hunt Allcott & Christopher Knittel, 2019. "Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-37, February.
    43. Thomas Klier & Joshua Linn, 2010. "The Price of Gasoline and New Vehicle Fuel Economy: Evidence from Monthly Sales Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 134-153, August.
    44. Videras, Julio & Owen, Ann L. & Conover, Emily & Wu, Stephen, 2012. "The influence of social relationships on pro-environment behaviors," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 35-50.
    45. Hahn, Jinyong & Todd, Petra & Van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2001. "Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 201-209, January.
    46. Ahern, Kenneth R. & Daminelli, Daniele & Fracassi, Cesare, 2015. "Lost in translation? The effect of cultural values on mergers around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 165-189.
    47. Alberini, Anna & Bareit, Markus & Filippini, Massimo & Martinez-Cruz, Adan L., 2018. "The impact of emissions-based taxes on the retirement of used and inefficient vehicles: The case of Switzerland," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 234-258.
    48. M. Keith Chen, 2013. "The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 690-731, April.
    49. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1082-1095.
    50. Beatrix Eugster & Raphaël Parchet, 2019. "Culture and Taxes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 296-337.
    51. Shultz, Steven & Pinazzo, Jorge & Cifuentes, Miguel, 1998. "Opportunities and limitations of contingent valuation surveys to determine national park entrance fees: evidence from Costa Rica," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 131-149, February.
    52. Brounen, Dirk & Kok, Nils, 2011. "On the economics of energy labels in the housing market," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 166-179, September.
    53. John Novembre & Toby Johnson & Katarzyna Bryc & Zoltán Kutalik & Adam R. Boyko & Adam Auton & Amit Indap & Karen S. King & Sven Bergmann & Matthew R. Nelson & Matthew Stephens & Carlos D. Bustamante, 2008. "Genes mirror geography within Europe," Nature, Nature, vol. 456(7218), pages 98-101, November.
    54. Fearon, James D, 2003. "Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 195-222, June.
    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. Neha Deopa & Daniele Rinaldo, 2023. "Sacred Ecology: The Environmental Impact of African Traditional Religions," Papers 2401.13673, arXiv.org.
    2. Muehlegger, Erich & Rapson, David S., 2022. "Subsidizing low- and middle-income adoption of electric vehicles: Quasi-experimental evidence from California," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Yongliang Yang & Yuting Zhu & Xiaopeng Wang & Yi Li, 2022. "The Perception of Environmental Information Disclosure on Rural Residents’ Pro-Environmental Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-22, June.
    4. Weitao Zhang & Adaviah Mas’od & Zuraidah Sulaiman, 2022. "Moderating Effect of Collectivism on Chinese Consumers’ Intention to Adopt Electric Vehicles—An Adoption of VBN Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-35, September.
    5. David Wuepper & Robert Finger, 2023. "Regression discontinuity designs in agricultural and environmental economics," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(1), pages 1-28.
    6. Brückmann, Gracia, 2022. "Test-drives & information might not boost actual battery electric vehicle uptake?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 204-218.
    7. Nicola Francescutto, 2024. "Retirement decision and household's gasoline consumption: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," IRENE Working Papers 24-01, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.

    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. Delgado, Michael S. & Harriger, Jessica L. & Khanna, Neha, 2015. "The value of environmental status signaling," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Anna Alberini, Markus Bareit and Massimo Filippini, 2016. "What is the Effect of Fuel Efficiency Information on Car Prices? Evidence from Switzerland," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    3. Aepli, Manuel & Kuhn, Andreas & Schweri, Jürg, 2021. "Culture, norms, and the provision of training by employers: Evidence from the Swiss language border," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Guin, Benjamin, 2017. "Culture and household saving," Working Paper Series 2069, European Central Bank.
    5. Daniele Mantegazzi & Philip McCann & Viktor Venhorst, 2020. "The impact of language borders on the spatial decay of agglomeration and competition spillovers," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 558-577, June.
    6. Andreas Steinhauer, 2018. "Working Moms, Childlessness, and Female Identity," Sciences Po publications 79, Sciences Po.
    7. Xing, Jianwei & Leard, Benjamin & Li, Shanjun, 2021. "What does an electric vehicle replace?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    8. Brown, Martin & Henchoz, Caroline & Spycher, Thomas, 2018. "Culture and financial literacy: Evidence from a within-country language border," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 62-85.
    9. Steinhauer, Andreas, 2018. "Working Moms, Childlessness, and Female Identity," CEPR Discussion Papers 12929, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1a68qg411o9bg9jp7fhgh60n5p is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Cottier, Lionel, 2018. "Culture, financial constraints, and retirement decision," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 128-145.
    12. Maseland, Robbert, 2021. "Contingent determinants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Daniel A. Brent & Corey Lott & Michael Taylor & Joseph Cook & Kimberly Rollins & Shawn Stoddard, 2020. "What Causes Heterogeneous Responses to Social Comparison Messages for Water Conservation?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 77(3), pages 503-537, November.
    14. Chaudhary, Latika & Rubin, Jared & Iyer, Sriya & Shrivastava, Anand, 2020. "Culture and colonial legacy: Evidence from public goods games," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 107-129.
    15. Anna Alberini & Markus Bareit & Massimo Filippini, 2014. "Does the Swiss Car Market Reward Fuel Efficient Cars? Evidence from Hedonic Pricing Regressions, a Regression Discontinuity Design, and Matching," Working Papers 2014.16, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    16. Karaja, Elira & Rubin, Jared, 2022. "Θ The cultural transmission of trust norms: Evidence from a lab in the field on a natural experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 1-19.
    17. Leard, Benjamin & Li, Shanjun & Xing, Jianwei, 2019. "What Does an Electric Vehicle Replace?," RFF Working Paper Series 19-05, Resources for the Future.
    18. Louise Grogan & Fraser Summerfield, 2019. "Government Transfers, Work, and Wellbeing: Evidence from the Russian Old-Age Pension," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1247-1292, October.
    19. Katharina Erhardt & Simon Haenni, 2018. "Born to be an entrepreneur? How cultural origin affects entrepreneurship," ECON - Working Papers 309, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    20. Astghik Mavisakalyan & Clas Weber, 2018. "Linguistic Structures And Economic Outcomes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 916-939, July.
    21. Ivan K. W. Lai & Yide Liu & Xinbo Sun & Hao Zhang & Weiwei Xu, 2015. "Factors Influencing the Behavioural Intention towards Full Electric Vehicles: An Empirical Study in Macau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-22, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Culture; Car choice; Spatial RDD; Environmental behavior; Energy efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    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:jeeman:v:105:y:2021:i:c:s0095069620301236. 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/inca/622870 .

    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.