Sustainability traps: Patience and innovation

Arbeitspapier

This paper argues that the joint relation between long-term orientation, environmental quality and innovation plays a key role in explaining environment-poverty traps. Based on empirical observations, we allow for the subjective discount rate to negatively depend on environmental quality in an R&D-driven endogenous growth model with local pollution externalities. Our model reconciles two empirical facts: i) multiple equilibria of economic and environmental development; ii) opposite responses to technological improvements depending on the initial equilibrium. Our results suggest that - in addition to traditional policies such as development aid and technology transfer - policies that aim at improving both the economic and the environmental dimension of sustainability, should also focus on changing individuals' long-term views in countries that face weak environmental conditions.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Economics Working Paper Series ; No. 20/330

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General‡ ; Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth ; Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products ; Environment and Growth ; Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation ; Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
• Thema: endogenous growth ; innovation ; time preference ; environmental poverty traps ; economic poverty traps

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Dioikitopoulos, Evangelos V. ; Karydas, Christos
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): ETH Zurich, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research
• (wo): Zurich
• (wann): 2020

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000393661
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/222585
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 20.09.2024, 08:21 MESZ