| 1. |
- Barrett, Scott, et al.
(author)
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Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene
- 2020
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 117:12, s. 6300-6307
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We consider two aspects of the human enterprise that profoundly affect the global environment: population and consumption. We show that fertility and consumption behavior harbor a class of externalities that have not been much noted in the literature. Both are driven in part by attitudes and preferences that are not egoistic but socially embedded; that is, each household's decisions are influenced by the decisions made by others. In a famous paper, Garrett Hardin [G. Hardin, Science 162, 1243-1248 (1968)] drew attention to overpopulation and concluded that the solution lay in people abandoning the freedom to breed. That human attitudes and practices are socially embedded suggests that it is possible for people to reduce their fertility rates and consumption demands without experiencing a loss in wellbeing. We focus on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa and consumption in the rich world and argue that bottom-up social mechanisms rather than top-down government interventions are better placed to bring about those ecologically desirable changes.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Carlén, Björn, 1965-
(author)
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Studies in climate change policy : theory and experiments
- 2000
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Emission Quota Trade Among the Few: Laboratory Evidence of Joint Implementation Among Committed Countries. The purpose of the laboratory tests reported here is to identify a well-functioning design, tailored for an upcoming unique experiment using real-world relevant decision makers for carbon emission reductions trade among four countries committed to binding carbon emission limits, a form of so-called joint implementation. The design is required to promote high trade efficiency and a limited scope for arbitrage. All designs tested reached high levels of efficiency (87-99 %), which is noteworthy given the small number of traders. Attempts to adjust the design to reduce or eliminate arbitrage were successful in the final test rounds.The Role of Market Power in International Emissions Trading: A Laboratory Experiment. Several policy advisers have expressed concerns that market power will characterize international greenhouse gas emissions trading, especially since presumed large buyers or sellers, e.g., the US or Russia or, eventually, China, would be allowed to trade directly on the market. The experiment reported here mimics a case where twelve countries, one of which is a large buyer, trade carbon emissions on a double auction market and where traders have essentially full information about the underlying net demand. The findings deviate from those of the standard version of market power effects in that trade volumes are efficient and prices are for the most part competitive.Cost-effective Approaches to Attracting Low-Income Countries to International Emissions Trading: Theory and Experiments. The cost-effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol and any similar non-global climate treaty would be enhanced by attracting as many new countries as possible to international emissions trading and achieving these additions as soon as possible. This paper focuses on two forms of compensation that can be used to attract poor, risk-averse countries to participate in emissions trading. The theoretical as well as experimental evidence presented here suggests that, if poor countries are more risk averse than rich countries, partial compensation in terms of financial transfers is more cost-effective than relying solely on giving the poor countries large emission quotas as has been the case so far. In fact, the theoretical argument for cost-effectiveness indicates that significant parts of the emission quotas to new participating countries should be replaced by financial transfers. Using money for partial compensation would also reduce the risk for 'hot air' allocations and the ensuing political obstacles to cost-effectiveness that such allocations tend to create.On the Interaction Effects of Environmental Policies. Recent literature has shown that environmental policies interact with the tax system in a way that may substantially increase the social cost of environmental control, the so-called interaction effect. So far, this literature has focused on specific types of environmental problems and an interaction effect that arises on the labor market. Allowing for more than one primary factor and other types of environmental problems, other interaction effect may arise. Some of these may reduce the social cost of environmental control. This is so, for example, if inputs that harm the environment when used in one activity are harmless in others, as is the case for some location-specific externalities. In fact, the aggregate interaction effect may well be cost reducing. In addition, it is even possible that the interaction effect on the labor market is cost reducing.
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| 4. |
- Chapin III, F. Stuart, et al.
(author)
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Earth stewardship : Shaping a sustainable future through interacting policy and norm shifts
- 2022
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In: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 51:9, s. 1907-1920
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Transformation toward a sustainable future requires an earth stewardship approach to shift society from its current goal of increasing material wealth to a vision of sustaining built, natural, human, and social capital—equitably distributed across society, within and among nations. Widespread concern about earth’s current trajectory and support for actions that would foster more sustainable pathways suggests potential social tipping points in public demand for an earth stewardship vision. Here, we draw on empirical studies and theory to show that movement toward a stewardship vision can be facilitated by changes in either policy incentives or social norms. Our novel contribution is to point out that both norms and incentives must change and can do so interactively. This can be facilitated through leverage points and complementarities across policy areas, based on values, system design, and agency. Potential catalysts include novel democratic institutions and engagement of non-governmental actors, such as businesses, civic leaders, and social movements as agents for redistribution of power. Because no single intervention will transform the world, a key challenge is to align actions to be synergistic, persistent, and scalable.
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| 5. |
- Ehmke, Mariah D, et al.
(author)
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Experimental methods for environment and development economics
- 2009
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In: Environment and Development Economics. - New York : Cambridge University Press. - 1355-770X .- 1469-4395. ; 14:4, s. 419-456
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many poor countries remain trapped in a cycle of poverty and environmental degradation. Understanding how people react to existing and proposed solutions most likely can be improved using the methods of experimental economics. Experiments provide researchers a method to test theory, look for patterns of behavior, testbed economic institutions and incentives, and to educate people. Herein we explore how experimental economics has been used and could be used to help guide decision making to increase prosperity without overexploiting the resource base and environmental assets needed for basic survival.
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| 6. |
- Jacquemet, Nicolas, et al.
(author)
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Earned wealth, engaged bidders? Evidence from a second-price auction.
- 2009
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In: Economics Letters. - Lausanne : Elsevier. - 0165-1765 .- 1873-7374. ; 105:1, s. 36-38
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper considers whether earned wealth affects bidding behavior in an induced-value second-price auction. We find people bid more sincerely in the auction with earned wealth given monetary incentives; earned wealth did not induce sincere bidding in hypothetical auctions.
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| 7. |
- Kroll, Stephan, et al.
(author)
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Domestic politics and climate change : international public goods in two-level games
- 2008
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In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 0955-7571 .- 1474-449X. ; 21:4, s. 563-583
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We use the theory of two-level games to explore how domestic constraints affect the outcome of bargaining games over national contributions to an international public good such as global climate change, and to discuss the implications for the Schelling conjecture. We model the international negotiations on two dimensions-domestic and foreign contributions to the international public good-and extend the basic two-level model by examining a nonzero sum, two-dimensional conflict model on level one that includes characteristics of both conflict and cooperation. Our main results suggest that if the domestic game is a ratification game (as in the presidential system of the US), then contributions do not exceed those in a benchmark game without domestic constraints. But if the domestic game is an election game (which is more important in the parliamentary system of most continental-European countries), contributions can actually be higher than the benchmark.
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| 8. |
- Levin, Simon A., et al.
(author)
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Governance in the Face of Extreme Events : Lessons from Evolutionary Processes for Structuring Interventions, and the Need to Go Beyond
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems (New York. Print). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1432-9840 .- 1435-0629. ; 25:3, s. 697-711
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The increasing frequency of extreme events, exogenous and endogenous, poses challenges for our societies. The current pandemic is a case in point; but once-in-a-century weather events are also becoming more common, leading to erosion, wildfire and even volcanic events that change ecosystems and disturbance regimes, threaten the sustainability of our life-support systems, and challenge the robustness and resilience of societies. Dealing with extremes will require new approaches and large-scale collective action. Preemptive measures can increase general resilience, a first line of protection, while more specific reactive responses are developed. Preemptive measures also can minimize the negative effects of events that cannot be avoided. In this paper, we first explore approaches to prevention, mitigation and adaptation, drawing inspiration from how evolutionary challenges have made biological systems robust and resilient, and from the general theory of complex adaptive systems. We argue further that proactive steps that go beyond will be necessary to reduce unacceptable consequences.
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| 9. |
- McIntosh, Christopher R, et al.
(author)
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Supply response to countercyclical payments and base acre updating under uncertainty : an experimental study
- 2007
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In: American Journal of Agricultural Economics. - Oxford : Blackwell Publishing. - 0002-9092 .- 1467-8276. ; 89:4, s. 1046-1057
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We design an experiment to simulate how people make agricultural production decisions under three policy scenarios, each incorporating direct payments (DPs): (a) price uncertainty without countercyclical payments (CCPs); (b) price uncertainty with CCPs; and (c) price uncertainty, CCPs, and uncertainty regarding base acreage updating. Results are the CCP program and perceived possibility of future base updating created incentives for subjects to invest more in program (base) crops, despite payments being decoupled from current production decisions. Those choosing to reduce revenue risk by increasing plantings of base crops may face reduced incomes, suggesting the efficiency of crop markets may be diminished.
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| 10. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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Att veta eller inte veta – vill konsumenter ha information om livsmedel?
- 2015
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Reports (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- I denna Policy Brief använder vi ekonomiska experiment för att undersöka hur konsumenter reagerar på information om hur livsmedel påverkar hälsa och miljö. Vi finner att: • Konsumenter ofta medvetet bortser från hälso- och miljöinformation i syfte att tillåta sig själva att göra val som negativt påverkar hälsan och miljön. • Smak ofta har så stor betydelse för val av livsmedel att hälsomärkning får liten effekt på efterfrågan på livsmedel. • Konsumenter inte har negativa förutfattade meningar om smaken på hälsomärkta livsmedel.
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| 11. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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Do parents counter-balance the carbon emissions of their children?
- 2020
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In: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:4, s. 1-16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is well understood that adding to the population increases CO2 emissions. At the same time, having children is a transformative experience, such that it might profoundly change adult (i.e., parents') preferences and consumption. How it might change is, however, unknown. Depending on if becoming a parent makes a person "greener" or "browner," parents may either balance or exacerbate the added CO2 emissions from their children. Parents might think more about the future, compared to childless adults, including risks posed to their children from environmental events like climate change. But parenthood also adds needs and more intensive competition on your scarce time. Carbon-intensive goods can add convenience and help save time, e.g., driving may facilitate being in more places in one day, compared to public transportation or biking. Pre-prepared food that contain red meat may save time and satisfy more household preferences, relative to vegetarian food. We provide the first rigorous test of whether parents are greener or browner than other adults. We create a unique dataset by combining detailed micro data on household expenditures of all expenditure groups particularly important for CO2 emissions (transportation, food, and heating/electricity) with CO2 emissions, and compare emissions from Swedish adults with and without children. We find that parents emit more CO2 than childless adults. Only a small fraction of adults permanently choose not to have children, which means any meaningful self-selection into parenthood based on green preferences is unlikely. Our findings suggest that having children might increase CO2 emissions both by adding to the population and by increasing CO2 emissions from those choosing to have children.
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| 12. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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Do parents leave a smaller carbon footprint?
- 2017
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Do parents leave a smaller carbon footprint? While becoming a parent is transformational as one focuses more on the future, the time constraints are more binding right now. Using a unique data set that allows us to compare CO2 emissions from Swedish two-adult households with and without children, we find becoming a Swedish parent causes a person to leave a larger carbon footprint—due to changes in transportation patterns and food consumption choices.
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| 13. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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Strategic Ignorance of Health Risk: Its Causes and Policy Consequences
- 2018
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We examine the causes and policy consequences of strategic (willful) ignorance of risk as an excuse to overengage in risky health behavior. In an experiment on Copenhagen adults, we allow subjects to choose whether to learn the calorie content of a meal before consuming it, and measure their subsequent calorie intake. We find strong evidence of strategic ignorance: 46% of subjects choose to ignore calorie information, and these subjects subsequently consume morecalories on average than they would have had they been informed. We find that strategically ignorant subjects downplay the health risk of their preferred meal being high-calorie, which we formally show is consistent with the theory of optimal expectations about risk. Further, we find that the prevalence of strategic ignorance largely negates the effectiveness of calorie information provision: on average, subjects who have the option to ignore calorie information consume about the same number of calories as subjects who are provided no information.
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| 14. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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Strategic ignorance of health risk: its causes and policy consequences
- 2023
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In: Behavioural Public Policy. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 2398-0648 .- 2398-063X. ; 7:1, s. 83-114
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We examine the causes and policy implications of strategic (willful) ignorance of risk as an excuse to over-engage in risky health behavior. In an experiment on Copenhagen adults, we allow subjects to choose whether to learn the calorie content of a meal before consuming it and then measure their subsequent calorie intake. Consistent with previous studies, we find strong evidence of strategic ignorance: 46% of subjects choose to ignore calorie information, and these subjects subsequently consume more calories on average than they would have had they been informed. While previous studies have focused on self-control as the motivating factor for strategic ignorance of calorie information, we find that ignorance in our study is instead motivated by optimal expectations – subjects choose ignorance so that they can downplay the probability of their preferred meal being high-calorie. We discuss how the motivation matters to policy. Further, we find that the prevalence of strategic ignorance largely negates the effects of calorie information provision: on average, subjects who have the option to ignore calorie information consume the same number of calories as subjects who are provided no information.
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| 15. |
- Parkhurst, Gregory M, et al.
(author)
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Smart subsidies for conservation
- 2008
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In: American Journal of Agricultural Economics. - Cary : Oxford University Press. - 0002-9092 .- 1467-8276. ; 90:5, s. 1192-1200
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 16. |
- Polasky, Stephen, et al.
(author)
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Corridors of Clarity : Four Principles to Overcome Uncertainty Paralysis in the Anthropocene
- 2020
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In: BioScience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0006-3568 .- 1525-3244. ; 70:12, s. 1139-1144
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Global environmental change challenges humanity because of its broad scale, long-lasting, and potentially irreversible consequences. Key to an effective response is to use an appropriate scientific lens to peer through the mist of uncertainty that threatens timely and appropriate decisions surrounding these complex issues. Identifying such corridors of clarity could help understanding critical phenomena or causal pathways sufficiently well to justify taking policy action. To this end, we suggest four principles: Follow the strongest and most direct path between policy decisions on outcomes, focus on finding sufficient evidence for policy purpose, prioritize no-regrets policies by avoiding options with controversial, uncertain, or immeasurable benefits, aim for getting the big picture roughly right rather than focusing on details.
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| 17. |
- Shogren, Jason F, et al.
(author)
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On behavioral-environmental economics
- 2008
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In: Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. - Oxford : Oxford University Press. - 1750-6816 .- 1750-6824. ; 2:1, s. 26-44
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Traditional environmental and resource economics uses rational choice theory to guide the evaluation of alternative policy options to correct market failure. Behavioral economics, however, has challenged this conventional mindset by showing how people frequently make choices and state values that deviate from the presumption of rationality, i.e., behavioral failures. This article explores the potential of behavioral economics to advance the science of environmental and resource economics. We address four questions: (1) How can behavioral failures affect thinking about environmental policy? (2) When are behavioral failures relevant to the science of environmental economics? (3) Is behavioral failure just another form of market failure? (4) Do we have a new behavioral-environmental second best problem? We conclude that the evidence from behavioral economics remains insufficient to support the wholesale rejection of rational choice theory within environmental and resource economics. But this does not mean anomalous behavior is non-existent; nature's goods and services frequently lack the active market-like arbitrage needed to encourage consistent and rational choice. We believe it is crucial to identify the economic circumstances, institutional designs, and social contexts in which rational choice theory works and those where it fails to capture observed behavior.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Sjöberg, Eric, 1984-
(author)
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Essays on Environmental Regulation, Management and Conflict
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis consists of three different papers summarized as follows. In The political economy of environmental regulation, I study how enforcement of national environmental legislation differ across municipalities in Sweden depending on the local political situation. While the legislation is national, enforcement is decentralized. I find that municipalities where the Green Party joins the ruling political coalition issue more environmental fines than other municipalities. In pricing on the fish market I use Swedish data to study how size affects the price per kilo of fish for several species. In traditional fishery biomass models, fish stocks are treated as homogenous. New theoretical heterogeneous fishery models, where size is allowed to differ in a fish stock, have important implications for regulation, for example that it is optimal to regulate on numbers of fish instead of weight. However, prices in these models are assumed to be constant. My estimates can be used to shed some light on how prices change when the size composition of the catch changes. In my third and final chapter, Settlement under the threat of conflict - The cost of asymmetric information, I present a theoretical model where two players can divide a good peacefully or engage in a contest in order to obtain the entire good. I assume that one player's valuation of the good is private information and show how this affects the expected cost of the contest and thus the probability of peaceful settlement.
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| 20. |
- Sumaila, U. Rashid, et al.
(author)
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WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies
- 2021
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 374:6567, s. 544-544
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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| 21. |
- Thunstrom, Linda, et al.
(author)
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Certainty and overconfidence in future preferences for food
- 2015
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In: Journal of Economic Psychology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1872-7719 .- 0167-4870. ; 51, s. 101-113
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We examine consumer certainty of future preferences and overconfidence in predicting future preferences. We explore how preference certainty and overconfidence impact the option value to revise today's decisions in the future. We design a laboratory experiment that creates a controlled choice environment, in which a subject's choice set (over food snacks) is known and constant over time, and the time frame is short - subjects make choices for themselves today, and for one to two weeks ahead. Our results suggest that even for such a seemingly straightforward choice task, only 45% of subjects can predict future choices accurately, while stated certainty of future preferences (one and two weeks ahead) is around 80%. We define overconfidence in predicting future preferences as: the difference between actual accuracy at predicting future choices and stated certainty of future preferences. Our results suggest strong evidence of overconfidence. We find that overconfidence increases with the level of stated certainty of future preferences. Finally, we observe that the option value people attach to future choice flexibility decreases with overconfidence. Overconfidence in future preferences affects economic welfare because it says people have too much incentive to lock themselves into future suboptimal decisions. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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| 22. |
- Thunstrom, Linda, et al.
(author)
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Healthy meals on the menu : A Swedish field experiment on labelling and restaurant sales
- 2016
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In: African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. - 1993-3738. ; 11:1, s. 63-68
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Menu labelling of meals prepared away from home is a policy designed to help consumers make healthier food choices. In this paper we use a field experiment in Sweden to examine if a restaurant benefits from introducing a meal labelled as healthy on its menu by experiencing an overall increase in sales. We cannot reject the hypothesis that sales are the same before and after the introduction of a meal labelled as healthy on the menu, i.e. our data does not support the idea that restaurants increase their sales from supplying a meal labelled as healthy.
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| 23. |
- Thunstrom, Linda, et al.
(author)
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On strategic ignorance of environmental harm and social norms
- 2014
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In: Revue d'Economie Politique. - : CAIRN. - 2105-2883 .- 0373-2630. ; 124:2, s. 195-214
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Are people strategically ignorant of the negative externalities their activities cause the environment? Herein we examine if people avoid costless information on those externalities and use ignorance as an excuse to reduce pro-environmental behavior. We develop a theoretical framework in which people feel internal pressure ("guilt") from causing harm-to the environment (e.g., emitting carbon dioxide) as well as external pressure to conform to the social norm for pro-environmental behavior (e.g., offsetting carbon emissions). Our model predicts that people may benefit from avoiding information on their harm to the environment, and that they use ignorance as an excuse to engage in less pro-environmental behavior. It also predicts that the cost of ignorance increases if people can learn about the social norm from the information. We test the model predictions empirically using an experiment combined with a stated-preference survey involving a hypothetical long-distance flight and an option to buy offsets for the flight's carbon footprint. More than half (53 percent) of the subjects choose to ignore information on the carbon footprint alone before deciding their offset purchase, but ignorance significantly decreases (to 29 percent) when the information additionally reveals the share of air travelers who buy carbon offsets. We find evidence that some people use ignorance as an excuse to reduce pro-environmental behavior-ignorance significantly decreases the probability of buying carbon offsets.
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| 24. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(author)
-
On strategic ignorance of environmental harm and social norms
- 2013
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Are people strategically ignorant of the negative externalities their activities cause the environment? Herein we examine if people avoid costless information on those externalities and use ignorance as an excuse to reduce pro-environmental behavior. We develop a theoretical framework in which people feel internal pressure (“guilt”) from causing harm to the environment (e.g., emitting carbon dioxide) as well as external pressure to conform to the social norm for pro-environmental behavior (e.g., offsetting carbon emissions). Our model predicts that people may benefit from avoiding information on their harm to the environment, and that they use ignorance as an excuse to engage in less pro-environmental behavior. It also predicts that the cost of ignorance increases if people can learn about the social norm from the information. We test the model predictions empirically using an experiment combined with a stated-preference survey involving a hypothetical long-distance flight and an option to buy offsets for the flight’s carbon footprint. More than half (53 percent) of the subjects choose to ignore information on the carbon footprint alone before deciding their offset purchase, but ignorance significantly decreases (to 29 percent) when the information additionally reveals the share of air travelers who buy carbon offsets. We find evidence that some people use ignorance as an excuse to reduce pro-environmental behavior—ignorance significantly decreases the probability of buying carbon offsets.
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| 25. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(author)
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Strategic self-ignorance
- 2016
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In: Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-0476 .- 0895-5646. ; 52:2, s. 117-136
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We examine strategic self-ignorance—the use of ignorance as an excuse to over-indulge in pleasurable activities that may be harmful to one’s future self. Our model shows that guilt aversion provides a behavioral rationale for present-biased agents to avoid information about negative future impacts of such activities. We then confront our model with data from an experiment using prepared, restaurant-style meals—a good that is transparent in immediate pleasure (taste) but non-transparent in future harm (calories). Our results support the notion that strategic self-ignorance matters: nearly three of five subjects (58%) chose to ignore free information on calorie content, leading at-risk subjects to consume significantly more calories. We also find evidence consistent with our model on the determinants of strategic self-ignorance.
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| 26. |
- Walker, Brian, et al.
(author)
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Looming Global-Scale Failures and Missing Institutions
- 2009
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1095-9203 .- 0036-8075. ; 325:5946, s. 1345-1346
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Navigating global changes requires a coevolving set of collaborative, global institutions.
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| 27. |
- Walker, Brian, et al.
(author)
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Response diversity as a sustainability strategy
- 2023
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In: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 6:6, s. 621-629
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Financial advisers recommend a diverse portfolio to respond to market fluctuations across sectors. Similarly, nature has evolved a diverse portfolio of species to maintain ecosystem function amid environmental fluctuations. In urban planning, public health, transport and communications, food production, and other domains, however, this feature often seems ignored. As we enter an era of unprecedented turbulence at the planetary level, we argue that ample responses to this new reality — that is, response diversity — can no longer be taken for granted and must be actively designed and managed. We describe here what response diversity is, how it is expressed and how it can be enhanced and lost.
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