Human Capital, Income, and Environmental Quality: A State-Level Analysis

Abstract

An empirical analysis reveals that states with more highly educated populations have better environmental conditions, after controlling for income, population density, and industrial composition. The strategy of raising human capital stocks to maintain or improve environmental quality is proposed as a complement, if not an alternative, to direct government intervention, which consists of command and control, market incentives, and moral suasion. Under this approach, general education becomes the control variable that guides economic behavior in a manner consistent with long-term environmental sustainability.

Education and the Political Economy of Environmental Protection

“…This optimal microeconomic choice may also refer to the conclusion of Andreoni & Levinson (2001) who highlight the fact that higher income individuals aim at consuming more, but also polluting less. In addition, our result is consistent with widespread empirical evidence such that higher income or/and higher level of education rise stronger concern for the environment by improving health and life expectancy (Goetz (1998), Carlsson & Johansson-Stenman (2000), Brock & Taylor (2005)). Finally, highly educated agents display longer life expectancy and so are likely to contribute for preserving the environment.…”

“…As shown previously, this positive relationship may be micro-founded. In particular, a higher level of education may in it-self trigger stronger concern for the environment (Goetz (1998), Carlsson & Johansson-Stenman (2000), Brock & Taylor (2005)), encouraging the emergence of a green consciousness. At an aggregate level, this greater awareness of environmental issues can be explained by the existence of more willingness and ability to express environmental preferences through existing channels, like lobbying groups, non-governmental organizations, voting etc....…”

“…It is shown that optimal willingnessto-pay for the environment depends crucially on education and so on longevity: a higher life expectancy increases the level of the preferred tax, by raising stronger concern for the environment, while it reduces private consumption. This result may be backed up by compelling evidence, like Goetz (1998), Carlsson & Johansson-Stenman (2000), Brock & Taylor (2005), that highlight the important role played by both socio-demographic and economic factors, including the level of education or health status, in explaining the positive correlation between the level of education and the public support for environmental protection.…”

Interactions Between Economic Growth and Environmental Quality in U.S. Counties

“…The extent of this community action depends on the educational and income level of the community. For example, Goetz et al (1998) find that states with larger shares of college-educated residents also have better environmental quality, controlling for a variety of other factors. The reduced-form equation, which characterizes the plant's equilibrium level pollution, includes output and labor costs (proxied by employment and earnings per worker), firm size, and formal and informal market regulations.…”

Winds of change: expanding renewable energies in developing countries

“…Examples of other factors that have been identified as potential determinants for environmental awareness include the openness of the political system (Scruggs 2003;Zahran et al 2007), political preferences (Fransson and Garling 1999), the level of democracy (Neumayer 2002), the length of the country's existence (Hershfield, Bang, and Weber 2014), economic inequality (Magnani 2000), rural versus urban living environment (Arcury and Christianson 1993;Berenguer, Corraliza, and Martin 2005), the degree of urbanization (Wilson 1984), population density (Brechin and Kempton 1994), enrollment ration in tertiary education (Goetz, Debertin, and Pagoulatos 1998) Another contextual factor that can influence environmental awareness are schools and specifically the type of information given at schools concerning the environment and sustainability. The influence of environmental education at schools as an indicator has not received as much attention in previous empirical studies.…”