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Do economic conditions influence environmental policy? Evidence from the US Senate

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  • Jacobsen, Grant D.

Abstract

This paper investigates whether economic conditions influence environmental policy by examining how policymakers voting on environmental legislation respond to changes in their state’s unemployment rate. The outcome of interest is a US Senator’s League of Conservation Voters score, which reflects how often a senator voted for the environmentally-favorable outcome on bills related to the environment in a given year. I find evidence that a higher unemployment rate is associated with reduced support for environmentally-favorable policies and that the estimated response is largest for Republicans. Counterfactual estimates indicate that if each state had experienced its lowest observed unemployment rate throughout the sample, then the proportion of votes taking the environmentally-favorable outcome would have increased from 36% to 41%.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacobsen, Grant D., 2013. "Do economic conditions influence environmental policy? Evidence from the US Senate," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 167-170.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:120:y:2013:i:2:p:167-170
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.04.028
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    1. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
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    5. Robert T. Deacon & Catherine S. Norman, 2006. "Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve Describe How Individual Countries Behave?," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 82(2), pages 291-315.
    6. Kijima, Masaaki & Nishide, Katsumasa & Ohyama, Atsuyuki, 2010. "Economic models for the environmental Kuznets curve: A survey," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1187-1201, July.
    7. Matthew E. Kahn & Matthew J. Kotchen, 2011. "Business Cycle Effects On Concern About Climate Change: The Chilling Effect Of Recession," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 257-273.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "An Empirical Study of the Determinants of Green Party Voting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 306-318.
    2. Andrew G. Meyer, 2022. "Do economic conditions affect climate change beliefs and support for climate action? Evidence from the US in the wake of the Great Recession," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 64-86, January.
    3. Brouillat, Eric & Saint Jean, Maïder, 2020. "Mind the gap: Investigating the impact of implementation gaps on cleaner technology transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Falco, Chiara & Corbi, Raphael, 2023. "Natural disasters and preferences for the environment: Evidence from the impressionable years," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    5. Conte, Marc N. & Jacobsen, Grant D., 2016. "Explaining Demand for Green Electricity Using Data from All U.S. Utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 122-130.
    6. Eric Brouillat & Maïder Saint-Jean, 2019. "Dura lex sed lex: why implementation gaps in environmental policy matter?," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2019-04, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    7. Anderson, Brilé & Bernauer, Thomas, 2016. "How much carbon offsetting and where? Implications of efficiency, effectiveness, and ethicality considerations for public opinion formation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 387-395.
    8. Inge M. Bijgaart & Sjak Smulders, 2018. "Does a Recession Call for Less Stringent Environmental Policy? A Partial-Equilibrium Second-Best Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(4), pages 807-834, August.
    9. Eric Brouillat & Maïder Saint Jean, 2020. "Mind the gap: Investigating the impact of implementation gaps on cleaner technology transition," Post-Print hal-03490256, HAL.
    10. van den Bijgaart, Inge, 2016. "Essays in environmental economics and policy," Other publications TiSEM 298bee2a-cb08-4173-9fe1-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental policy; Unemployment rate; LCV scores; Congressional voting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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