Green goods: are they good or bad news for the environment? Evidence from a laboratory experiment on impure public goods

An impure public good is a commodity that combines public and private characteristics in fixed proportions. Green goods such as dolphin-friendly tuna or green electricity programs provide increasings popular examples of impure goods. We design an experiment to test how the presence of impure public goods affects pro-social behaviour. We set parameters, such that from a theoretical point of view the presence of the impure public good is behaviorally irrelevant. In a baseline setting, where the impure public good provides only small contributions to the public good. We observe that on aggregate pro-social behaviour, defined as total contributions to the public good, is lower in the presence of the impure good. Some individuals do not alter their decisions, but roughly two fifths of subjects make a lower contribution to the public good in the presence of the impure public good. On the contrary, in the case where the impure public good favours the public good component at the expense of private earnings, individuals are unaffected in their behaviour. We conclude that the presence of green goods which have only a small environmental component may reduce pro-environmental behaviour.green goods; impure public goods; pro-social behaviour; social norms; experimental economics

Green goods: are they good or bad news for the environment? Evidence from a laboratory experiment on impure public goods

An impure public good is a commodity that combines public and private characteristics in fixed proportions. Green goods such as dolphin-friendly tuna or green electricity programmes provide increasingly popular examples of impure public goods. We design an experiment to test how the presence of impure public goods affects pro-social behaviour. We set parameters, such that from a theoretical point of view the presence of the impure public good is behaviourally irrelevant. In a baseline setting, where the impure public good provides only small contributions to the public good, we observe that on aggregate pro-social behaviour, defined as total contributions to the public good, is lower in the presence of the impure good. Some individuals do not alter their decisions, but roughly two fifths of subjects make a lower contribution to the public good in the presence of the impure public good. On the contrary, in the case where the impure public good favours the public good component at the expense of private earnings, individuals are unaffected in their behaviour. We conclude that the presence of green goods which have only a small environmental component may reduce pro-environmental behaviour.green goods, impure public goods, pro-social behaviour, social norms, experimental economics

Exploring the relation between cultural values and R&D investment under the behavioral theory of the firm

This paper explores the role cultural factors play in firms’ decisions to invest in Research and Development (R&D), under the behavioural theory of the firm (Cyert & March, 1963). Based on a sample of non-financial firms from 23 countries for the period of 1990 to 2016 and two of the six Hofstede (1984) cultural dimensions, we observe that countries’ cultural values are statistically significant at explaining differences in firms’ R&D decisions. On one hand, there is a negative relation between firms’ R&D investment decisions and countries’ uncertainty avoidance. On the other hand, a positive relation is found between firms’ R&D investment decision and countries’ long-term orientation. Evidence is also found on the extent to which these cultural characteristics influence how firms’ aspirations in relation to performance discrepancies drive R&D investment

Green goods: are they good or bad news for the environment? evidence from a laboratory experiment on impure public goods

An impure public good is a commodity that combines public and private characteristics in fixed proportions. Green goods such as dolphin-friendly tuna or green electricity programmes provide increasingly popular examples of impure public goods. We design an experiment to test how the presence of impure public goods affects pro-social behaviour. We set parameters, such that from a theoretical point of view the presence of the impure public good is behaviourally irrelevant. In a baseline setting, where the impure public good provides only small contributions to the public good, we observe that on aggregate pro-social behaviour, defined as total contributions to the public good, is lower in the presence of the impure good. Some individuals do not alter their decisions, but roughly two fifths of subjects make a lower contribution to the public good in the presence of the impure public good. On the contrary, in the case where the impure public good favours the public good component at the expense of private earnings, individuals are unaffected in their behaviour. We conclude that the presence of green goods which have only a small environmental component may reduce pro-environmental behaviour.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

3rd Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Association of Energy Economics & 5th Meeting of Environmental and Energy Economics

The 3rd Annual Conference of the Portuguese Association of Energy Economics – APEEN and the International Meeting on Energy and Environmental Economics – ME3 took place on the 18-19 October 2018 in Braga, Portugal. The event was hosted by the Universidade do Minho and gathered the contributions of specialists in Energy and Environmental Economics to enrich the debate about the many issues raised by the management of resources and waste. The main topic was Managing Resources and Waste: challenges for Energy and Environmental Economics beyond 2030. ​Natural resources are the keystone in environmental and energy economics. Nowadays, resource management cannot ignore waste, traditionally seen as a by-product of consumption and production decisions, but increasingly recognized as a source of energy or as new type of resource

Does a market with green goods voluntarily internalize externalities? Evidence from a lab experiment

In a green goods market a combination of individual and corporate social responsibility may lead to the internalization of externalities. This economics experiment implements a market for green credence goods in the presence of externalities on other buyers and explores whether a combination of individual and corporate social responsibility may lead to the internalization of externalities. Under information asymmetry, we observe widespread false claims and an apparently pro-environmental market, when in reality green goods are sparingly sold. When a credible label is possible or when the information asymmetry is removed, the provision of actual green goods increases, but is roughly 20% to 25% of the market share. While this share is non-negligible, the niche market that ensues does not ensure that less environmentally damaging consumption options will be widespread, nor that social welfare will be maximized once the information asymmetry is removed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On the behavioural relevance of optional and mandatory impure public goods : results from a laboratory experiment

Ethical goods are increasingly available in markets for conventional goods giving pro-ethically motivated consumers a convenient option to contribute to public goods. In a previous experiment we explored the behavioural relevance of impure public goods in a within-subject setting and observed reduced aggregate pro-social behavior in the presence of impure goods that favor private consumption at the expense of public good provision. In this experiment, we implement a between-subject design to test the behavioural relevance of impure public goods with only a token contribution to a public good cause. From a theoretical perspective, assuming people demand private and public characteristics regardless of how they are provided, we would expect no behavioural relevance of the presence of impure public goods. However, this experiment establishes that pro-social behaviour defined as contributing to a public good, is negatively affected by impure goods with token contributions, in comparison to when they are absent. Furthermore, if the token impure good is mandatory instead of optional the negative effect on pro-social behaviour seems to be offset. The results from this experiment suggest impure public goods are not behaviourally irrelevant, can decrease pro-social behaviour but their optional or mandatory nature can have different behavioural consequences.This research was partially funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the Applied Microeconomics Research Unit (NIMA) (award no. PEst-OE/EGE/UI3181/2011

Explaining the social acceptance of renewables through location-related factors: an application to the Portuguese case

The public perception of renewable energy sources is generally positive, due to their role in air pollution and CO2 emission mitigation policies. However, there are local environmental detrimental effects, and empirical evidence is not consistent as to the support of local communities. In the present paper, we analyse the antecedents of public generic perceptions of renewables grounded on objective location-related factors. Personal location-related factors can originate in the involvement of individuals with renewable energy sources. Regional location-related factors concern the importance of the renewable energy source in the district of residence and in relation to other renewables. We implement a questionnaire on public perceptions of renewable energy sources by the general population in mainland Portugal and complement respondent-level responses with renewable energy district information. Regression analysis shows that these objective location-related factors, both personal and regional, help explain public perceptions of renewables and thus we find empirical support for the proposed approach. These results can inform and guide policymakers in tackling future social acceptance issues of renewable energy policies towards lower carbon emissions and less polluting energy production.L.M.C.P. and M.V. acknowledge the financial support of NIPE (National Funds of the FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project UID/ECO/03182/2019)

When does remote electronic access (not) boost productivity? Longitudinal evidence from Portugal

Under embargo until: 2023-08-31Whether or not the option to work remotely increases firm labour productivity is theoretically ambiguous. We use a rich and representative sample of Portuguese firms, and within-firm variation in the policy of remote electronic access – a key prerequisite for remote work – over the period 2011–2016, to empirically assess the relationship between remote access and firm labour productivity. Based on estimations of models with firm-fixed effects, we find a significantly negative association, on average, between remote access and productivity. However, we also find a substantial degree of heterogeneity across different categories of firms, where the association between remote access and productivity is significantly positive for firms that undertake R&D activities. Our findings suggest that the possibility of working remotely, as proxied by the possibility of remote access, is more likely to be harmful for productivity in non-exporting, small firms that do not do R&D, and that employ a workforce with a below-average skill level.acceptedVersio