IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v120y2013i2p167-170.html

Do economic conditions influence environmental policy? Evidence from the US Senate

Author

Listed:
  • Jacobsen, Grant D.

Abstract

This paper investigates whether economic conditions influence environmental policy by examining how policymakers voting on environmental legislation respond to changes in their state’s unemployment rate. The outcome of interest is a US Senator’s League of Conservation Voters score, which reflects how often a senator voted for the environmentally-favorable outcome on bills related to the environment in a given year. I find evidence that a higher unemployment rate is associated with reduced support for environmentally-favorable policies and that the estimated response is largest for Republicans. Counterfactual estimates indicate that if each state had experienced its lowest observed unemployment rate throughout the sample, then the proportion of votes taking the environmentally-favorable outcome would have increased from 36% to 41%.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacobsen, Grant D., 2013. "Do economic conditions influence environmental policy? Evidence from the US Senate," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 167-170.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:120:y:2013:i:2:p:167-170
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.04.028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176513001997
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2013.04.028?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert T. Deacon & Catherine S. Norman, 2006. "Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve Describe How Individual Countries Behave?," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 82(2), pages 291-315.
    2. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    3. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-161, April.
    4. Kijima, Masaaki & Nishide, Katsumasa & Ohyama, Atsuyuki, 2010. "Economic models for the environmental Kuznets curve: A survey," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1187-1201, July.
    5. Matthew E. Kahn & Matthew J. Kotchen, 2011. "Business Cycle Effects On Concern About Climate Change: The Chilling Effect Of Recession," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 257-273.
    6. Groseclose, Tim & Levitt, Steven D. & Snyder, James M., 1999. "Comparing Interest Group Scores across Time and Chambers: Adjusted ADA Scores for the U.S. Congress," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(1), pages 33-50, March.
    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. Jody W. Lipford, 2025. "On the politics of constitutional law: an environmental case study of the role of politics and economics in constitutional appeals," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 80-94, March.
    2. Inge M. Bijgaart & Sjak Smulders, 2018. "Does a Recession Call for Less Stringent Environmental Policy? A Partial-Equilibrium Second-Best Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(4), pages 807-834, August.
    3. Eric Brouillat & Maïder Saint Jean, 2020. "Mind the gap: Investigating the impact of implementation gaps on cleaner technology transition," Post-Print hal-03490256, HAL.
    4. Andrew G. Meyer, 2022. "Do economic conditions affect climate change beliefs and support for climate action? Evidence from the US in the wake of the Great Recession," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 64-86, January.
    5. Brouillat, Eric & Saint Jean, Maïder, 2020. "Mind the gap: Investigating the impact of implementation gaps on cleaner technology transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    6. Falco, Chiara & Corbi, Raphael, 2023. "Natural disasters and preferences for the environment: Evidence from the impressionable years," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    7. Morakinyo O. Adetutu, 2025. "The political economy of environmental legislation: evidence from the British Parliament," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 203(1), pages 205-235, April.
    8. van den Bijgaart, Inge, 2016. "Essays in environmental economics and policy," Other publications TiSEM 298bee2a-cb08-4173-9fe1-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Conte, Marc N. & Jacobsen, Grant D., 2016. "Explaining Demand for Green Electricity Using Data from All U.S. Utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 122-130.
    10. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "An Empirical Study of the Determinants of Green Party Voting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 306-318.
    11. Eric Brouillat & Maïder Saint-Jean, 2019. "Dura lex sed lex: why implementation gaps in environmental policy matter?," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2019-04, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    12. Anderson, Brilé & Bernauer, Thomas, 2016. "How much carbon offsetting and where? Implications of efficiency, effectiveness, and ethicality considerations for public opinion formation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 387-395.

    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. Tanger, Shaun M. & Zeng, Peng & Morse, Wayde & Laband, David N., 2011. "Macroeconomic conditions in the U.S. and congressional voting on environmental policy: 1970-2008," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 1109-1120, April.
    2. Fujii, Hidemichi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2013. "Which industry is greener? An empirical study of nine industries in OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 381-388.
    3. Fabian Knorre & Martin Wagner & Maximilian Grupe, 2021. "Monitoring Cointegrating Polynomial Regressions: Theory and Application to the Environmental Kuznets Curves for Carbon and Sulfur Dioxide Emissions," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-35, March.
    4. Bartz, Sherry & Kelly, David L., 2008. "Economic growth and the environment: Theory and facts," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 115-149, May.
    5. Farhani, Sahbi & Mrizak, Sana & Chaibi, Anissa & Rault, Christophe, 2014. "The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainability: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 189-198.
    6. Esteve, Vicente & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2012. "Threshold cointegration and nonlinear adjustment between CO2 and income: The Environmental Kuznets Curve in Spain, 1857–2007," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2148-2156.
    7. Arminen, Heli & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "Corruption, climate and the energy-environment-growth nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 621-634.
    8. Martin Neve & Bertrand Hamaide, 2017. "Environmental Kuznets Curve with Adjusted Net Savings as a Trade-Off Between Environment and Development," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 39-58, March.
    9. Bartz, Sherry & Kelly, David L., 2008. "Economic growth and the environment: Theory and facts," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 115-149, May.
    10. Sushama Murty, 2014. "On the environmental Kuznets curve with fossil-fuel induced emission: Theory and some illustrative examples," Discussion Papers 1406, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    11. Kakeu, Johnson & Agbo, Maxime, 2022. "International transfer to reduce global inequality and transboundary pollution," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Jiangjun Wan & Yuxin Li & Chunchi Ma & Tian Jiang & Yi Su & Lingqing Zhang & Xueqian Song & Haiying Sun & Ziming Wang & Yutong Zhao & Kaili Zhang & Jinxiu Yang, 2021. "Measurement of Coupling Coordination Degree and Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of the Social Economy and Ecological Environment in the Chengdu–Chongqing Urban Agglomeration under High-Quality Develop," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-18, November.
    13. Anelí Bongers, 2020. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve and the Energy Mix: A Structural Estimation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    14. Stern, David I., 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Primer," Working Papers 249424, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    15. Seref Bozoklu & A. Oguz Demir & Sinan Ataer, 2020. "Reassessing the environmental Kuznets curve: a summability approach for emerging market economies," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 513-531, September.
    16. Carolina Jimenez & Luis Moncada & Diego Ochoa-Jimenez & Wilman-Santiago Ochoa-Moreno, 2019. "Kuznets Environmental Curve for Ecuador: An Analysis of the Impact of Economic Growth on the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-11, October.
    17. Barros, Pedro Henrique Batista de & Chimeli, Ariaster Baumgratz, 2025. "Can economic development and forest conservation coexist? Revisiting growth and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    18. Muhammed Ashiq Villanthenkodath & Mohd Arshad Ansari & Muhammad Shahbaz & Xuan Vinh Vo, 2022. "Do tourism development and structural change promote environmental quality? Evidence from India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 5163-5194, April.
    19. Fang, Wen Shwo & Miller, Stephen M. & Yeh, Chih-Chuan, 2012. "The effect of ESCOs on energy use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 558-568.
    20. Brajer, Victor & Mead, Robert W. & Xiao, Feng, 2008. "Health benefits of tunneling through the Chinese environmental Kuznets curve (EKC)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 674-686, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    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:ecolet:v:120:y:2013:i:2:p:167-170. 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/ecolet .

    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.