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Understanding environmental policy preferences: New evidence from Brazil

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Listed author(s):
  • Aklin, Michaël
  • Bayer, Patrick
  • Harish, S.P.
  • Urpelainen, Johannes

Abstract

We examine the relationship between socio-economic factors and public opinion on environmental policies in Brazil, drawing on a survey conducted in June 2012. There are few systematic studies of the determinants of environmental preferences in emerging economies, and Brazil is a particularly interesting case because of its democratic political system, rapid economic growth, and importance for the global environment. In general, we find that the Brazilian public is highly supportive of environmental protection. To explain variation in environmental preferences, we focus on the effects of income and education. Many previous studies suggest that both should have positive effects, but the empirical evidence is mixed. Indeed, we find that income has no effect on environmental preferences. However, education is a strong predictor of environmental preferences. While college education is not necessary for environmental awareness, there is a large difference between Brazilians with primary and secondary education. For policy, the findings imply that investment in secondary education can raise environmental awareness, regardless of income levels.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Ecological Economics.

Volume (Year): 94 (2013)
Issue (Month): C ()
Pages: 28-36

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Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:94:y:2013:i:c:p:28-36
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.05.012
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon

Keywords: Public opinion; Education; Income; Environmental concern; Emerging country; Brazil;

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  1. Aldy, Joseph Edgar & Leiserowitz, Anthony A & Kotchen, Matthew J, 2012. "Willingness to Pay and Political Support for a U.S. National Clean Energy Standard," Scholarly Articles 8832942, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
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  7. Rothman, Dale S., 1998. "Environmental Kuznets curves--real progress or passing the buck?: A case for consumption-based approaches," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 177-194, May.
  8. Susmita Dasgupta & Benoit Laplante & Hua Wang & David Wheeler, 2002. "Confronting the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 147-168, Winter.
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Cited by:

  1. Lo, Alex Y., 2014. "Negative income effect on perception of long-term environmental risk," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 51-58.
  2. Turaga, Rama Mohana, 2015. "Does Economy Matter for Public Support for Environmental Protection? Evidence from India," IIMA Working Papers WP2015-03-40, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
  3. Michaël Aklin & Patrick Bayer & S. Harish & Johannes Urpelainen, 2014. "Who blames corruption for the poor enforcement of environmental laws? Survey evidence from Brazil," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 16(3), pages 241-262, July.
  4. Benjamin Michallet & Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta & François Facchini, 2015. "Greening Up or Not? The Determinants Political Parties’ Environmental Concern: An Empirical Analysis Based on European Data (1970-2008)," Working Papers 2015.25, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
  5. repec:hal:wpaper:halshs-01154006 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Jan Goebel & Christian Krekel & Tim Tiefenbach & Nicolas Ziebarth, 2015. "How natural disasters can affect environmental concerns, risk aversion, and even politics: evidence from Fukushima and three European countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 1137-1180, October.
  7. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2016. "Environmental concerns, volunteering and subjective well-being: Antecedents and outcomes of environmental activism in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-16.
  8. Michallet, Benjamin & Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio & Facchini, Francois, 2015. "Greening up or not? The determinants of political parties’ environmental concern: an empirical analysis based on European data (1970-2008)," MPRA Paper 63335, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Mar 2015.
  9. Zhang, Bin & Wang, Zhaohua, 2014. "Inter-firm collaborations on carbon emission reduction within industrial chains in China: Practices, drivers and effects on firms' performances," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 115-131.
  10. Jan Goebel & Christian Krekel & Tim Tiefenbach & Nicholas R. Ziebarth, 2014. "Natural Disaster, Environmental Concerns, Well-Being and Policy Action," CINCH Working Paper Series 1405, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
  11. Sarah Feron, 2016. "Sustainability of Off-Grid Photovoltaic Systems for Rural Electrification in Developing Countries: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 8(12), pages 1-26, December.
  12. Yujie Li, Xiaoyi Mu,Anita Schiller, and Baowei Zheng, 2016. "Willingness to Pay for Climate Change Mitigation: Evidence from China," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(China Spe).
  13. Meinard, Yves & Remy, Alice & Schmid, Bernhard, 2017. "Measuring Impartial Preference for Biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 45-54.
  14. Michaël Aklin & Patrick Bayer & S. Harish & Johannes Urpelainen, 2014. "Information and energy policy preferences: a survey experiment on public opinion about electricity pricing reform in rural India," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 305-327, November.

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