IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fem/femwpa/2015.25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Greening Up or Not? The Determinants Political Parties’ Environmental Concern: An Empirical Analysis Based on European Data (1970-2008)

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Michallet

    (University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne/Paris School of Economics, Paris (France))

  • Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta

    (University of Naples, L’Orientale, Naples (Italy))

  • François Facchini

    (University of Paris 11 (RITM), Paris (France))

Abstract

Why do parties offer environmental policies in their political programs? While a number of papers examine the determinants of citizens’ pro-environmental behaviour, we know little about the extent to which political parties adjust their platform towards environmentalism. We investigate this process through data provided by the Manifesto Project Dataset (CMP) for 20 European countries over the period 1970-2008. Following the literature on public concern towards environment, we examine economic, environmental and political determinants. Our findings provide evidence that political parties’ environmental concern is strongly correlated with their political ideology and with country-level economic conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2015.25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://feem-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/NDL2015-025.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aseem Prakash & Matthew Potoski, 2006. "Racing to the Bottom? Trade, Environmental Governance, and ISO 14001," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 350-364, April.
    2. Silvia Ferrari & Francisco Cribari-Neto, 2004. "Beta Regression for Modelling Rates and Proportions," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(7), pages 799-815.
    3. Willman, Paul, 2000. "The viability of trade union organisation: a bargaining unit analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20159, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March.
    5. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 135-135.
    6. Budge, Ian, 1994. "A New Spatial Theory of Party Competition: Uncertainty, Ideology and Policy Equilibria Viewed Comparatively and Temporally," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(4), pages 443-467, October.
    7. Kirchgassner, Gebhard & Schneider, Friedrich, 2003. "On the Political Economy of Environmental Policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 115(3-4), pages 369-396, June.
    8. Scruggs, Lyle A., 1999. "Institutions and Environmental Performance in Seventeen Western Democracies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 1-31, January.
    9. Torgler, Benno & Garcia-Valinas, Maria A., 2007. "The determinants of individuals' attitudes towards preventing environmental damage," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 536-552, August.
    10. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "An Empirical Study of the Determinants of Green Party Voting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 306-318.
    11. Frey, Bruno S., 1978. "Politico-economic models and cycles," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 203-220, April.
    12. Farzin, Y. Hossein & Bond, Craig A., 2006. "Democracy and environmental quality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 213-235, October.
    13. Axel Franzen, 2003. "Environmental Attitudes in International Comparison: An Analysis of the ISSP Surveys 1993 and 2000," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 84(2), pages 297-308, June.
    14. repec:ipg:wpaper:5 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Ercolano, Salvatore & Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio & Romano, Oriana, 2014. "Environmental tax reform and individual preferences: An empirical analysis on European micro data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-11.
    16. Aklin, Michaël & Bayer, Patrick & Harish, S.P. & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2013. "Understanding environmental policy preferences: New evidence from Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 28-36.
    17. Page, Benjamin I. & Shapiro, Robert Y., 1983. "Effects of Public Opinion on Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 175-190, March.
    18. Boyce, James K., 1994. "Inequality as a cause of environmental degradation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 169-178, December.
    19. Garmann, Sebastian, 2014. "Do government ideology and fragmentation matter for reducing CO2-emissions? Empirical evidence from OECD countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 1-10.
    20. Adams, James & Clark, Michael & Ezrow, Lawrence & Glasgow, Garrett, 2004. "Understanding Change and Stability in Party Ideologies: Do Parties Respond to Public Opinion or to Past Election Results?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(4), pages 589-610, October.
    21. James Boyce, 1994. "Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation," Published Studies ps1, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    22. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 71-81, January.
    23. Torras, Mariano & Boyce, James K., 1998. "Income, inequality, and pollution: a reassessment of the environmental Kuznets Curve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 147-160, May.
    24. Budge, Ian & Laver, Michael, 1993. "The Policy Basis of Government Coalitions: A Comparative Investigation," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 499-519, October.
    25. repec:ipg:wpaper:2013-005 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Michael Bechtel & Thomas Bernauer & Reto Meyer, 2012. "The green side of protectionism: Environmental concerns and three facets of trade policy preferences," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 837-866.
    27. Magnani, Elisabetta, 2000. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve, environmental protection policy and income distribution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 431-443, 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. Constantin-Marius APOSTOAIE, 2017. "Relevant Determinants Of The Political Parties’ Environmental Preference," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business (continues Analele Stiintifice), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 63(3), pages 51-69, January.
    2. Apostoaie Constantin-Marius, 2016. "Relevant Determinants of the Political Parties’ Environmental Preference," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 63(s1), pages 51-69, December.
    3. Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta & Stefano Ghinoi & Francesco Silvestri, 2017. "Municipal performance in waste recycling: an empirical analysis based on data from the Lombardy region (Italy)," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 337-352, October.

    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. Benjamin Michallet & Giuseppe Gaeta & François Facchini, 2015. "Greening up or not? The determinants of political parties' environmental concern: an empirical analysis based on European data (1970-2008)," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01154006, HAL.
    2. Benjamin Michallet & Giuseppe Gaeta & François Facchini, 2015. "Greening up or not? The determinants of political parties' environmental concern: an empirical analysis based on European data (1970-2008)," Working Papers halshs-01154006, HAL.
    3. 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.
    4. Soumyananda Dinda, 2014. "A theoretical basis for green growth," International Journal of Green Economics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(2), pages 177-189.
    5. Valeria Costantini & Chiara Martini, 2010. "A Modified Environmental Kuznets Curve for sustainable development assessment using panel data," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(1/2), pages 84-122.
    6. Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso & Leon Pilgrim, 2023. "Revisiting the link between income inequality and emissions," Working Papers 2023.04, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    7. Coondoo, Dipankor & Dinda, Soumyananda, 2008. "Carbon dioxide emission and income: A temporal analysis of cross-country distributional patterns," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 375-385, April.
    8. Hübler, Michael, 2017. "The inequality-emissions nexus in the context of trade and development: A quantile regression approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 174-185.
    9. Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen & Wang, Jinxian & Zhang, Xun, 2022. "The income inequality-CO2 emissions nexus: Transmission mechanisms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2013. "Inclusive Green Growth and Sustainable Development through Productive Consumption," MPRA Paper 50574, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Sep 2013.
    11. Costantini, Valeria & Monni, Salvatore, 2008. "Environment, human development and economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 867-880, February.
    12. Alban Verchere, 2022. "Is social polarization bad for the planet? A theoretical inquiry," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 427-456, April.
    13. Alexandre BERTHE & Luc ELIE, 2014. "Les conséquences environnementales des inégalités économiques : structuration théorique et perspectives de recherche (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2014-18, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    14. Kolcava, Dennis & Nguyen, Quynh & Bernauer, Thomas, 2019. "Does trade liberalization lead to environmental burden shifting in the global economy?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 98-112.
    15. Nicolli, Francesco & Gilli, Marianna & Vona, Francesco, 2022. "Inequality and Climate Change: Two Problems, One Solution?," FEEM Working Papers 329340, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    16. Obadiah Jonathan Gimba & Abdulkareem Alhassan & Huseyin Ozdeser & Wafa Ghardallou & Mehdi Seraj & Ojonugwa Usman, 2023. "Towards low carbon and sustainable environment: does income inequality mitigate ecological footprints in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 10425-10445, September.
    17. James Boyce, 2003. "Inequality and Environmental Protection," Working Papers wp52, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    18. Bo Yang & Minhaj Ali & Shujahat Haider Hashmi & Mohsin Shabir, 2020. "Income Inequality and CO 2 Emissions in Developing Countries: The Moderating Role of Financial Instability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-24, August.
    19. Baek, Jungho & Gweisah, Guankerwon, 2013. "Does income inequality harm the environment?: Empirical evidence from the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1434-1437.
    20. Fateh Belaïd, Sabri Boubaker, Rajwane Kafrouni, 2020. "Carbon emissions, income inequality and environmental degradation: the case of Mediterranean countries," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 17(1), pages 73-102, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Concern; Environmental Attitudes; Political Parties; Electoral Manifestos;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fem:femwpa:2015.25. 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: Alberto Prina Cerai (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.html .

    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.