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Leading by Example to Protect the Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Eline Van der Heijden

    (Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands)

  • Erling Moxnes

    (Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway)

Abstract

Environmentalists often urge their home countries to take a leading role in reducing global environmental problems like climate change. A pertinent question is, Will examples set by leading nations influence others to follow suit, and if so, do the costs of leading matter? For instance, will costly domestic reductions have a stronger effect on followers than purchases of cheap emission permits abroad? To investigate these questions, we have conducted two treatments in a public bad experiment in which leaders have different costs of leading. Our findings suggest that higher costs of leading lead to stronger effects of a given leader example. Randomly chosen leaders lead by example and set better examples if it is less costly to do so. Finally, there seems to be a limit to the leader effect and it may decrease over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Eline Van der Heijden & Erling Moxnes, 2013. "Leading by Example to Protect the Environment," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 57(2), pages 307-326, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:57:y:2013:i:2:p:307-326
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander W. Cappelen & Bjørn-Atle Reme & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2016. "Leadership and Incentives," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(7), pages 1944-1953, July.
    2. Delaney, Jason & Jacobson, Sarah, 2015. "The good of the few: Reciprocal acts and the provision of a public bad," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 46-55.
    3. Jing Yu & Martin G. Kocher, 2023. "Leading by example in a public goods experiment with benefit heterogeneity," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 61(3), pages 685-712, October.
    4. Gerlagh, Reyer & van der Heijden, Eline, 2024. "Going green: Framing effects in a dynamic coordination game," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. Eskeland, Gunnar S., 2013. "Leadership in Climate Policy: Is there a case for Early Unilateral Unconditional Emission Reductions?," Discussion Papers 2013/6, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.

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