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Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe

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  • Meyer, Andrew

Abstract

It is often observed that individuals with higher education levels tend to be more environmentally friendly. Yet, the causal evidence is lacking because there may well be omitted variables that cause individuals to attain more education and also cause individuals to be environmentally conscious. We implement a regression discontinuity design to estimate the increase in educational attainment due to changes in compulsory education laws in 20th century Europe. This allows us to overcome the identification problem of endogenous educational attainment. Using two waves of Eurobarometer surveys, we find a positive local average treatment effect for 7 of the 8 pro-environmental behaviors. An analysis of related questions on the survey supports the notion that education causes individuals to be more concerned with social welfare and to accordingly behave in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Meyer, Andrew, 2015. "Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 108-121.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:116:y:2015:i:c:p:108-121
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.018
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Instrumental variables; Pro-environmental behavior; Education; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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