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Differentiated responsibilities and prosocial behaviour in climate change mitigation

Author

Listed:
  • Reuben Kline

    (Stony Brook University
    Stony Brook University)

  • Nicholas Seltzer

    (University of Nevada)

  • Evgeniya Lukinova

    (NYU Shanghai
    NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science NYU Shanghai)

  • Autumn Bynum

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

A characteristic feature of the global climate change dilemma is interdependence between the underlying economic development that drives anthropogenic climate change—typically modelled as a common pool resource dilemma1,2—and the subsequent dilemma arising from the need to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, often modelled as a public goods dilemma3,4. In other words, in a carbon-based economy, causal responsibility for climate change is a byproduct of economic development, and is therefore endogenous to it. To capture this endogeneity, we combine these two dilemmas into a ‘compound climate dilemma’ and conduct a series of incentivized experiments in the United States and China to test its implications for cooperation and prosocial behaviour. Here we show that, in a differentiated development condition, even while the advantaged parties increase their prosociality relative to an endogenous but homogeneous baseline condition, the accompanying decrease in cooperative behaviour by the disadvantaged parties more than offsets it. Furthermore, compared with exogenous but identically parameterized control conditions, this endogeneity decreases cooperation in the mitigation dilemma. In light of this interdependence, the basis upon which mitigation obligations should be differentiated becomes an additional dimension of conflict, with implications for domestic politics and international negotiations discussed5,6.

Suggested Citation

  • Reuben Kline & Nicholas Seltzer & Evgeniya Lukinova & Autumn Bynum, 2018. "Differentiated responsibilities and prosocial behaviour in climate change mitigation," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 653-661, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:2:y:2018:i:9:d:10.1038_s41562-018-0418-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0418-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Ding, Rui & Wang, Xianjia & Liu, Yang & Zhao, Jinhua & Gu, Cuiling, 2023. "Evolutionary games with environmental feedbacks under an external incentive mechanism," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. Alessandro Del Ponte & Aidas Masiliūnas & Noah Lim, 2023. "Information about historical emissions drives the division of climate change mitigation costs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Junichi Hirose & Koji Kotani & Yoshinori Nakagawa, 2021. "Is Climate Change Induced by Humans? The Impact of the Gap in Perceptions on Cooperation," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 391-413, October.
    4. Manfred Milinski & Jochem Marotzke, 2022. "Economic experiments support Ostrom’s polycentric approach to mitigating climate change," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Robert Böhm & Özgür Gürerk & Thomas Lauer, 2020. "Nudging Climate Change Mitigation: A Laboratory Experiment with Inter-Generational Public Goods," Games, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Aseem Mahajan & Reuben Kline & Dustin Tingley, 2022. "Collective Risk and Distributional Equity in Climate Change Bargaining," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 66(1), pages 61-90, January.

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