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Behavioral Economics and Climate Change Policy

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  • John M. Gowdy

    () (Department of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY 12180-3590, USA)

Abstract

The policy recommendations of most economists are based on the rational actor model of human behavior. Behavior is assumed to be self-regarding, preferences are assumed to be stable, and decisions are assumed to be unaffected by social context or frame of reference. The related fields of behavioral economics, game theory, and neuroscience have confirmed that human behavior is other regarding, and that people exhibit systematic patterns of decision-making that are "irrational" according to the standard behavioral model. This paper takes the position that it is these "irrational" patterns of behavior that uniquely define human decision making and that effective economic policies must take these behaviors as the starting point. This argument is supported by game theory experiments involving humans, closely related primates, and other animals with more limited cognitive ability. The policy focus of the paper is global climate change. The research surveyed in this paper suggests that the standard economic approach to climate change policy, with its almost exclusive emphasis on rational responses to monetary incentives, is seriously flawed. In fact, monetary incentives may actually be counter-productive. Humans are unique among animal species in their ability to cooperate across cultures, geographical space and generations. Tapping into this uniquely human attribute, and understanding how cooperation is enforced, holds the key to limiting the potentially calamitous effects of global climate change.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Economics in its series Rensselaer Working Papers in Economics with number 0701.

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Date of creation: Jan 2007
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Handle: RePEc:rpi:rpiwpe:0701

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Cited by:
  1. Anderson, Blake & M'Gonigle, Michael, 2012. "Does ecological economics have a future?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 37-48.
  2. Alessandro Tavoni & Maja Schlüter & Simon Levin, 2011. "The survival of the conformist: social pressure and renewable resource management," Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Papers 35, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
  3. Elisabeth Gsottbauer & Jeroen Bergh, 2011. "Environmental Policy Theory Given Bounded Rationality and Other-regarding Preferences," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 49(2), pages 263-304, June.
  4. John M. Gowdy, 2010. "Behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, and climate change policy: baseline review for the garrison institute initiative on climate change," Rensselaer Working Papers in Economics 1010, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Economics.
  5. repec:pid:journl:v:46:y:2007:i:4:p:337-350 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2011. "Farmers adoption of integrated crop protection and organic farming: Do moral and social concerns matter?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1536-1545, June.
  7. Nathalie Lazaric & Kevin Maréchal, 2010. "Overcoming inertia: insights from evolutionary economics into improved energy and climate policy," Post-Print hal-00452205, HAL.
  8. Alessandro Tavoni, 2009. "Incorporating Fairness Motives into the Impulse Balance Equilibrium and Quantal Response Equilibrium Concepts: An Application to 2x2 Games," Working Papers 2009.40, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
  9. John M. Gowdy, . "Valuing Nature For Climate Change Policy: From Discounting The Future To Truly Social Deliberation," Rensselaer Working Papers in Economics 1201, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Economics.
  10. Welsch, Heinz, 2009. "Implications of happiness research for environmental economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2735-2742, September.
  11. Hirazawa, Makoto & Saito, Koichi & Yakita, Akira, 2011. "Effects of international sharing of pollution abatement burdens on income inequality among countries," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1615-1625, October.

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