Private, Public, and Collaborative Engagements in Environmental Issues

• Other Authors: Kim, Minjung (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Political science; Public policy
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Kim_fsu_0071E_15176

This dissertation analyzes the conditions under which individual environmental behaviors, government environmental regulations, and collaborative environmental policy networks occur. Although numerous studies have investigated these various types of environmental engagements, they tend to rely on general assumptions with major limitations. The first essay of this dissertation tests the effects of an individual’s environmental attitudes on private environmental behavior, instrumenting for the endogeneity of attitude measures. The second essay studies the predictors of city governments’ adoption of flexible environmental regulations, based on the new perspective that pro-environmental institutions can be tools for economic growth. The first essay examines the causal relationships between individuals’ environmental attitude and their environmental behavior. Unlike the prevalent approach in the literature assuming the direct causal relationship of environmental attitude to behavior, I propose a new model that presents an instrument for the endogenous attitude measures. Empirical results are mixed. People who are more concerned about climate change are more likely to use green products, while they do not recycle more. These diverging results of the two behavioral variables considered to be the most environmental suggest substantial differences among the private environmental actions. Environmental attitudes consistently predict certain environmental behaviors, but they have no effect on other environmental behaviors. In addition, the positive and significant effects of environmental attitudes on some non-environmental private actions indicate the possibility of the social desirability bias of attitude measures. The overall results show that the causal effects of environmental attitudes on environmental behaviors are not simple and consistent as generally assumed. The second essay studies the reasons for the different levels in the city governments’ adoption of energy-efficient land-use policies. Extant work presumes a conflicting and competing relationship between economic growth and environmental conservation. My approach differs from traditional presumption by looking at environmental land-use plans as the institutional tools for economic development. This essay tests the hypothesis that cities that need green business to achieve their economic prosperity would implement more environmentally friendly land-use plans. The estimated effect shows that the more important the green business is for the city’s economic growth, the more likely the city will adopt general energy-efficient land-use plans. The empirical results in the second essay show that the different levels of adopting environmental institutions in the cities can be explained by diverse paths to achieving the economic growth of each city. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2019. === April 11, 2019. === Environmental attitude, Environmental behavior, Environmental policy, Institutions, Policy networks, Survey research === Includes bibliographical references. === Eric A. Coleman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Christopher Coutts, University Representative; Brad T. Gomez, Committee Member; Matthew T. Pietryka, Committee Member.