Environmental policy and human capital inequality: A matter of life and death

Constant, Karine

doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2018.04.009

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The interior solution (7)–(9) and the corner solution (10)–(12) are in line with those obtained by Galor and Weil (2000), de la Croix and Doepke (2003, 2004), Zhang and Zhang (2005), Fioroni (2010), Yakita (2010) and Constant (2019). 6 The individual optimal behaviour can be interpreted (see Yakita, 2010) by comparing marginal benefits and marginal costs of education ( ceteris paribus ) versus those of giving birth to an extra child.…”

Section: Theoretical Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

A contribution to the theory of economic development and the demographic transition: fertility reversal under the HIV epidemic

et al. 2020

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According to the conventional theory of the demographic transition, mortality decline has represented the major trigger of fertility decline and sustained economic development. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a devastating impact on mortality, dramatically reversing the long-term positive trend in life expectancies in high HIV-prevalence countries. Moreover, SSA is experiencing a delayed and slower fertility transition compared to other world regions and there is growing empirical evidence highlighting the potential for a paralysis, or even a reversal, of the fertility transition in countries with severe HIV epidemics. This work builds on a unified growth theory-like general equilibrium model combined with HIV spread, where mortality endogenously feeds back into fertility and education decisions. The model supports the evidence of an HIV-triggered fertility reversal in SSA via the fall in education and human capital investments due to increased adult mortality, which eventually breaks the switch from quantity to quality of children. Fertility reversal is predicted to be more likely to occur in countries experiencing severe HIV epidemics, and its effects may persist even under successful scenarios of HIV control. These results suggest that the alarming possibility of a paralysis in the fertility transition, which so far has aroused little concern among international organizations, e.g., in the last round of UN population projections, should be seriously considered with a view to prioritizing policy interventions.

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Section: Theoretical Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

A contribution to the theory of economic development and the demographic transition: fertility reversal under the HIV epidemic

et al. 2020

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“…In fact, with the possible exception of Jouvet et al (2011), the existing literature has proposed a separate treatment of the impact of fertility and life expectancy on the environment. 6 We believe that our original framework, by dealing with human capital driven growth (and thus the quality-quantity trade-off), can be fruitfully extended in order to analyze the complex fertility-longevity-environment nexus.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the "environmental" literature pioneered byJohn and Pecchenino (1994), environmental quality and longevity have typically been identified as important elements to explain underdevelopment traps (see alsoIkefuji and Horii, 2007). The role of life expectancy, however, has typically been overlooked -different to some papers such asBlackburn and Cipriani (2002) orChakraborty (2004) that, although not focused on environmental problems, have put the spotlight on longevity as a possible source of multiple equilibria5 The bimodal distribution of life expectancy and the EPI has been further confirmed by Dao and Edenhofer (2018), who use updated data and identify more than two convergence clubs 6. In their paper, Jouvet et al (2011) consider a possible trade-off between longevity and fertility and focus on population density as a threat to environmental quality.…”

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confidence: 98%

Population and the Environment: The Role of Fertility, Education and Life Expectancy

Mariani

Pérez-Barahona

Raffin

2019

Human Capital and Economic Growth

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This paper explores the interplay between population and environmental quality. After reviewing the existing literature, we set up a theoretical framework suitable to analyze two major endogenous forces of demographic change-fertility and life expectancy-and their dynamic interaction with human capital and environmental conditions. We thus revisit and encompass in a unified model some key results of the literature, and gain new insight on the consequences of policy intervention on environmental dynamics and economic development. In particular, we highlight (i) the possible perverse effects of pollution control, (ii) a demographic explanation of the environmental Kuznets curve, (iii) the opportunity of relying on educational subsidies to alleviate the pressure on natural resources, and (iv) the existence of poverty traps related to human capital and environmental quality.

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“…Whereas inequality has received increasing public and academic attention recently and the health effects of pollution are found to be very unequally distributed in the population, only few studies have examined such an issue for now. Notable exceptions are Aloi and Tournemaine (2013) and Constant (2019). On the one hand, Aloi and Tournemaine (2013) consider the effect of pollution on human capital accumulation.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These disparities may entail huge costs for society -in terms of well-being, health and social costs, productivity loss, discouraged investments, wasted potential etc. Moreover, a growing number of empirical and theoretical studies emphasize the net detrimental effect of inequality on long-term economic growth through its negative effect on human capital accumulation (see, e.g., Galor, 2011, OECD, 2015or Constant, 2019. For all these reasons, reducing these disparities has became an explicit goal for many governments and, for that, it seems crucial to explore the different channels through which they occur.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollution, children’s health and the evolution of human capital inequality

Constant

Davin

2021

Mathematical Social Sciences

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This article examines how pollution and its health effects during childhood can affect the dynamics of inequalities among households. In a model in which children's health is endogenously determined by pollution and the health investments of parents, we show that the economy may exhibit inequality in the long run and be stuck in an inequality trap with steadily increasing disparities, because of pollution. We investigate if an environmental policy, consisting in taxing the polluting production to fund pollution abatement, can address this issue. We find that it can decrease inequality in the long run and enable to escape from the trap if the emission intensity is not too high and if initial disparities are not too wide. Otherwise, we reveal that a policy mix with an additional subsidy to health expenditure may be a better option, at least if parental investment on children's health is sufficiently efficient.

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Environmental policy and human capital inequality: A matter of life and death

Cited by 18 publications

References 43 publications

A contribution to the theory of economic development and the demographic transition: fertility reversal under the HIV epidemic

A contribution to the theory of economic development and the demographic transition: fertility reversal under the HIV epidemic

Population and the Environment: The Role of Fertility, Education and Life Expectancy

Pollution, children’s health and the evolution of human capital inequality

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