External Habits Formation and the Environment
Abstract
The present paper presents a standard overlapping generations model with external habits formation and environmental quality in the utility function. Our main objective is to study the impact of external habits on capital accumula- tion and environmental quality on the intertemporal competitive equilibrium. We notice that striving for status leads to environment worsening and capital increasing when the cohort size is large.
Downloads
References
Alonso-Carrera, J., &Bouché, S. (2019). Capital accumulation when consumers are tempted by others consumption experience. Oxford Economic Papers, 72(3), 804–828. doi:10.1093/oep/gpz046
Alvarez-Cuadrado, F., & Long, N. V. (2011). Relative consumption and renewable resource extraction under alternative proper- ty-rights regimes. Resource and Energy Economics,33(4), 1028–1053. doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2010.09.003
Aronsson, T., & Johansson-Stenman, O. (2014). State-variable public goods and social comparisons. Journal of Environmental Eco- nomics and Management, 68(2), 390–410. doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2014.07.001
Becker, G., & Mulligan, C. (1997). The endogenous determination of time preference. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(3), 729– 758.Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2951254
Bouché, S. (2017). Aspirations, environmental quality and optimal tax policy. ECOBAS Working Papers, 2016-21.
Bouché, S., &de Miguel, C. (2019). Endogenous aspirations, growth and the rise of environmental concerns. Energy Economics, 84(S1). doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2019.104526
Brekke, K. A., & Howarth, R. B. (2003). Status, growth, and the environment: goods as symbols in applied welfare economics. Ed- ward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham.
Brekke, K. A., Howarth, R. B. & Nyborg, K. (2003). Status-seeking and material affluence: evaluating the Hirsch hypothesis. Ecological Economics, 45(1), 29–39. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00262-8
de la Croix, D. (1996). The dynamics of bequeathed tastes. Economics Letters,53(1), 89–96. doi:10.1016/S0165-1765(96)00888-9 de la Croix, D., & Michel, P. (1998). Optimal growth when tastes are inherited. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 23(4), 519–537.doi:10.1016/S0165-1889(98)00028-1
Diamond, P. A. (1965). National debt in the neoclassical growth model. American Economic Review, 55, 279–293. Retrieved from: https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/aer
Eckerstorfer, P., & Wendner, R. (2013). Asymmetric and non-atmospheric consumption externalities, and efficient consumption taxation. Journal of Public Economics, 106, 42–56. doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2013.07.003
Goerke, L., & Hellesheim, I. (2013). Relative consumption, working time, and trade unions. Labour Economics, 24, 170–179. doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2013.08.002
Hirsch, F. (1976). The social limits to growth. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Howarth, R. B. (1996). Status effects and environmental externalities. Ecological Economics, 16(1), 25–34. doi:10.1016/0921- 8009(95)00076-3
Howarth, R. B. (2006). Optimal environmental taxes under relative consumption effects. Ecological Economics, 58(1), 209–219. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.07.007
Huang, K.X.D., Liu, Z. & Zhu, J.Q. (2015). Temptation and self-control: some evidence and applications. Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, 47, 581-615. doi:10.1111/jmcb.12222
John, A., & Pecchenino, R. (1994). An overlapping generations model of growth and the environment. The Economic Journal, 104(427), 1393–1410. doi:10.2307/2235455
John, A., Pecchenino R., Schimmelpfennig, D & Schreft, S. (1995). Short-lived agents and the long-lived environment. Journal of Public Economics, 58(1), 127–141. doi:10.1016/0047-2727(94)01459-2
Ljungqvist, L., & Uhlig, H. (2000). Tax policy and aggregate demand management under catching up with the Joneses. American Economic Review, 90(3), 356–366. doi:10.1257/aer.90.3.356
Long, N. V., & Wang, S. (2009). Resource grabbing by status-conscious agents. Journal of Development Economics, 89(1), 39–50. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2008.09.005
Ng, Y. K., & Wang, J. (1993). Relative income, aspiration, environmental quality, individual and political myopia: why may the rat race for material growth be welfare reducing? Mathematical Social Sciences, 26(1), 3–23. doi:10.1016/0165-4896(93)90008-7
Wendner, R. (2003). Status, environmental externality, and optimal tax programs. Economics Bulletin, 8(5), 1–10. Retrieved from http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/eb/
Wendner, R. (2005). Frames of reference, the environment, and efficient taxation. Economics of Governance, 6(1), 13–31. doi:10.1007/ s10101-004-0086-6