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The dynamics of Environmentalism and the Environment

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  • Ingmar Schumacher

    (X-DEP-ECO - Département d'Économie de l'École Polytechnique - X - École polytechnique)

Abstract

We study the relationship between environmental preferences and the environment. Preferences are transmitted intergenerationally and through social interactions, where we assume that agents are more likely to adopt environmental preferences the larger the amount of pollution. In the basic setting we find that both converge non-monotonically towards an interior steady state. When including technical change we notice that there will be no change in the steady state level of the environment unless technical change is sufficiently strong, which stands in stark contrast to the literature. Upon introducing environmental laws we find that these may lead to a virtually pollution-free environment. This happens if environmental laws are implemented when public support is strong enough. 1 Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France. email: ingmar.schumacher@polytechnique.edu. tel: 0033 169333038. The author kindly acknowledges the helpful comments by two anonymous referees.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingmar Schumacher, 2009. "The dynamics of Environmentalism and the Environment," Working Papers hal-00392379, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00392379
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00392379
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ingrid Ott & Susanne Soretz, 2018. "Green Attitude and Economic Growth," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(4), pages 757-779, August.
    3. Schumacher, Ingmar & Zou, Benteng, 2015. "Threshold preferences and the environment," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 17-27.
    4. Lorenzo Cerda Planas, 2018. "Moving Toward Greener Societies: Moral Motivation and Green Behaviour," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(4), pages 835-860, August.
    5. Bezin, Emeline & Ponthière, Gregory, 2019. "The tragedy of the commons and socialization: Theory and policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2015. "The endogenous formation of an environmental culture," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 200-221.
    7. Filippini, Massimo & Wekhof, Tobias, 2021. "The effect of culture on energy efficient vehicle ownership," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
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    10. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "An Empirical Study of the Determinants of Green Party Voting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 306-318.
    11. repec:ipg:wpaper:201405 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Panarello, Demetrio, 2021. "Economic insecurity, conservatism, and the crisis of environmentalism: 30 years of evidence," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Chai, Andreas & Bradley, Graham & Lo, Alex & Reser, Joseph, 2015. "What time to adapt? The role of discretionary time in sustaining the climate change value–action gap," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 95-107.
    14. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2010. "Ecolabeling, consumers' preferences and taxation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2202-2212, September.
    15. 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.
    16. repec:ipg:wpaper:15 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. repec:ipg:wpaper:2013-013 is not listed on IDEAS

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