Participacion en campañas ambientales, es importante el efecto conjunto entre el ingreso subjetivo y el desempeño del pais.

• Author: Melgar, Natalia
• Position: Art
• Pages: 1(18)

Involvement in environmental causes, does the joint effect between subjective income and the performance of the country matter?

1 Introduction

There is a large body of research that assesses individual's attitudes towards the environment and environmental commitment. Education and income play a relevant role in determining people's attitudes, there are proofs that higher educational levels and higher income levels make people more interested in participating in environmental causes (Blomquist and Whitehead, 1998; Carlsson and Johansson-Stenman, 2000; Franzen, 2003; García-Valiñas and Torgler, 2007; Kütz, 2007; Popp, 2001; Witzke and Urfei, 2001). Moreover, a set of studies shows that socio-demographic attributes also matter such as gender, age, marital status and political affiliation (Kerkvliet, 1997; Bord and O'Connor, 1997; Davidson and Freudenburg, 1996; Dupont, 2004; Hunter et al., 2004; Tittle, 1980; Vlosky and Vlosky, 1999; Witzke and Urfei, 2001; Zelezny et al., 2000).

We extend previous researches by considering some effects that come from the macroeconomic sphere such as per capita income (measured by the per capita Gross Domestic Product, GDP) and other indicators. Moreover we also assess whether the joint effect between subjective income and some characteristics of the country are key determinants of these attitudes. For doing so, we employ the data set that comes from the fifth wave of the WVS survey. Furthermore, accepting that sustainable development depends on the quality of institutions, (Hall and Jones, 1999; Knack and Keefer, 1995; Rigobon and Rodrik, 2005; Rodrik et al., 2004), we examine whether the Rule of Law favors people's involvement in environmental issues. Moreover, we also consider the existence of interaction-effects between personal income and this set of macroeconomic variables. For instance, the probability of participating in an environmental cause may change among richer people depending whether their live in a richer country.

Given previous findings, we also hypothesize that personal attributes matter (such as gender, educational level, income level, among others). The contributions to the literature are twofold. Firstly, we employ a large and heterogeneous data set and we also show that country characteristics are relevant predictors of people's attitudes towards the environment. Secondly, after controlling by personal attributes, this research explores the significance of interaction terms between personal income and a set of macroeconomic variables. For example, we examine whether, as income rises, richer people are more likely to engage in pro-environment behavior.

This paper is organized as follows. Section two presents some empirical evidence regarding the effect of personal attributes (gender, age, education, income, among others) and the less developed literature about the impact of country characteristic on the probability of being involved in environmental issues. The third section sketches the main features of the data set and econometric methods applied in this study and the description of variables. The fourth section deals with results. Finally, the conclusions are drawn in section five.

2 Environmental issues, people's involvement and sustainable development

This section presents previous literature that shows which are the personal attributes and country characteristics that play a relevant role in determining people's engagement with environmental causes.

Kütz (2007) concludes that education plays a major role in making people aware of the relevance of a sustainable development and improves their willingness to actively participate. In line with this, previous literature on this issue also highlights the role of (formal and informal) education (Blomquist and Whitehead, 1998; Whitehead, 1991; Carlsson and Johansson-Stenman, 2000; Israel and Levinson, 2004; Popp, 2001; García-Valiñas and Torgler, 2007; Witzke and Urfei, 2001).

Past researches provide evidence on the higher involvement among women, this finding has been linked to the socialization process in which women internalize social roles as caregivers and nurturers and hence, women tend to see the world in more cooperative terms and to feel more compassion. All these elements lead to higher concern for the environment (Kerkvliet, 1997; Bord and O'Connor, 1997; Davidson and Freudenburg, 1996; Dupont, 2004; Hunter et al., 2004; Zelezny et al., 2000). However, as gender roles have been changing and environmental issues have become more relevant for everyone, we hypothesized that gender differences are likely to be non-significant.

Regarding age, there is no consensus on the direction of its impact. On one hand, environmental consciousness may be up as people get older and on the other hand, if they consider only the use-value (and they do not take into account the existence value), older people obtain less personal benefits of preserving resources (Vlosky and Vlosky, 1999).

Marital status could also matter. Dupont (2004) and Tittle (1980) point out that marriage is a significant determinant of environmental involvement because people tend to take into account the needs of future generations and in particular, those of their children.

Engel and Pötschke (1998) and Witzke and Urfei (2001) argue that political affiliation also influences this attitude. This is true since ideology is correlated to beliefs and preferences on economic and social issues such as growth, intervention, openness and environmental regulation.

The role of personal income has also been examined (Blomquist and Whitehead, 1998; Bulte et al., 2005; Franzen, 2003; Hidano et al., 2005; Israel and Levinson, 2004; Popp, 2001; Stevens et al., 1994; Veisten et al., 2004; Whitehead, 1991; Witzke and Urfei, 2001). Environmental quality is considered a luxury good and therefore, its demand is up as income rises. Instead of monetary income, we argue that subjective income play a major role, in other words, people's satisfaction with their own welfare or people's perception of it is the key element that shapes attitudes.

We also extend previous research by considering some effects that come from the macroeconomic sphere such as income per capita (measured by the per capita GDP) and other indicators. Additionally, in line with the environmental Kuznets' Curve (an inverted U-shaped curve between pollution and economic activity), we expect that per capita income registers a positive impact in the case of Europe and Latin America (the relatively richer areas according to our sample of countries) and a negative impact in the case of Africa and Asia (the relatively poorer areas).

In line with this argument, we also hypothesize that per capita GDP has an indirect impact through the subjective income. Thus, we expect the marginal effect of subjective income to vary across countries. For example, richer people might be more engaged in environmental causes in relatively poor countries where the governments have fewer resources to provide environmental protection than those living in richer countries. In line with this, Owen and Videras (2006) find that civic-minded people are much more likely to support environmental protection if they live in relatively poorer countries.

Accepting that sustainable development also depends on the quality of institutions, (Hall and Jones, 1999; Knack and Keefer, 1995; Rigobon and Rodrik, 2005; Rodrik et al., 2004), we examine whether the rule of law favors people's involvement in environmental issues. In line with this, it is likely that in those countries in which the government is perceived as being corrupt, people participate more because they know that alternative channels (non-governmental organizations, etc.) are needed to pursue their goals (such as improving...