Partisan politics, welfare states, and environmental policy outputs in the OECD countries, 1975–2005

Abstract

Building on the burgeoning literature on the association between the welfare state and the environmental state, this study empirically examines how the politics of the former has affected the development of the latter. We suggest that the size of the welfare state shapes the calculus of environmental policy costs by partisan governments. A generous welfare state lowers the costs perceived by the left‐wing government, as large redistributive spending allows the government to mitigate the adverse impact of the new environmental policy on its core supporters, industrial workers. A generous welfare state also implies diminished marginal political returns from additional welfare commitment by the left‐wing government, which lowers the opportunity costs of environmental policy expansion. To the contrary, because of lower overall regulatory and taxation pressure, a small welfare state reduces the costs of environmental policy expansion as perceived by a right‐wing government. Our theoretical narrative is supported in a dynamic panel data analysis of environmental policy outputs in 25 Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development member states during the period 1975–2005.

Sustainable policy performance and types of governance: Is there a trade‐off between consensus and efficiency?

“…If governments are efficiently organized but favor economic success and care less about environmental issues, they will be just as successful in implementing policies to achieve these goals as an efficiently organized government that seeks to achieve all three sustainability goals. Lim and Duit (2018, p. 233) conclude that a “left‐wing government is more likely to increase environmental policy output when it inherits and can maintain generous welfare spending.” We will therefore consider whether it makes a difference when left‐leaning or right‐leaning governments are in power.…”

Party families and greenhouse gas emissions: a new perspective on an old concept

“…An organization theoretical analysis that perceives political parties as open systems that react to their environment would complement our explanation. There are many studies that explain environmental positions and outcomes in terms of conditional effects (Abou-Chadi 2014;Anderson 2001;Chang et al 2018;Lim and Duit 2018). However, each of these studies focuses on interesting aspects and examines how they interact with ideological variables.…”

“…That means that the causality between ideology and policy can still be perceived as in the rational model but that contingent factors caused by various environmental requirements dilute this direct causality. Therefore many studies dealing with the impact of parties on environmental performance identify several conditional effects (Abou-Chadi 2014;Anderson 2001;Chang et al 2018Jahn 2018Lim and Duit 2018;Spoon et al 2014). In this study we estimate the strength and limits of the rational model.…”

Push, Pull, or Inform - an Empirical Taxonomy of Environmental Policy Support in Sweden

“…Consequently, there is by now an exhaustive number of environmental policies in operation (cf. Duit 2016;Lim and Duit 2018). Thus, we can expect that most respondents are not completely unaccustomed to the policies (and types of policies) assessed in this study.…”