Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:15:13.292Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Altruism, environmental externality and fertility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2019

Makoto Hirazawa ,
Kimiyoshi Kamada  and
Takashi Sato
Makoto Hirazawa
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan
Kimiyoshi Kamada*
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan
Takashi Sato
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economics, Shimonoseki City University, Shimonoseki City, Japan
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigate the interaction between environmental quality and fertility in an altruistic bequest model with pollution externalities created by the aggregate production. Despite the negative externality related to the endogenous childbearing decisions, parents may choose to have fewer children in the competitive economy than in the social optimum. To achieve optimality, positive taxes on childbearing are required even with an insufficient number of children, if the social discount factor equals the parents' degree of altruism. On the other hand, child allowances may constitute the optimal policy if the social discount factor exceeds the parents' degree of altruism.

Keywords

altruismbequestchild allowancesenvironmental qualityexternalityfertility
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , June 2019 , pp. 317 - 338
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barro, RJ (1974) Are government bonds net wealth? Journal of Political Economy 82, 1095–1117.Google Scholar
Barro, RJ and Becker, GS (1989) Fertility choice in a model of economic growth. Econometrica 57, 481–501.Google Scholar
Becker, GS and Barro, RJ (1988) A reformulation of the economic theory of fertility. Quarterly Journal of Economics 103, 1–25.Google Scholar
Blumkin, T and Sadka, E (2004) Estate taxation with intended and accidental bequests. Journal of Public Economics 88, 1–21.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P (1995) The population problem: theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Literature 33, 1879–1902.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P (2000) Population and resources: an exploration of reproductive and environmental externalities. Population and Development Review 26, 643–689.Google Scholar
de Bruyn, SM, van den Bergh, JCJM and Opschoor, JB (1998) Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves. Ecological Economics 25, 161–175.Google Scholar
de la Croix, D and Gosseries, A (2012) The natalist bias of pollution control. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 63, 271–287.Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan (2009) Taiwan's Achievements in Environmental Protection. Available at https://unfccc.epa.gov.tw/unfccc/english/04_our_efforts/081_more.html.Google Scholar
Friedl, B and Getzner, M (2003) Determinants of CO2 emissions in a small open economy. Ecological Economics 45, 133–148.Google Scholar
Harford, JD (1997) Stock pollution, child-bearing externalities, and the social discount rate. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 33, 94–105.Google Scholar
Harford, JD (1998) The ultimate externality. American Economic Review 88, 260–265.Google Scholar
Hirazawa, M and Yakita, A (2017) Labor supply of elderly people, fertility, and economic development. Journal of Macroeconomics 51, 75–96.Google Scholar
Japanese Ministry of the Environment (2014) Kankyo Hakusho, Jyunkangatashakai Hakusho, Seibutsutayosei Hakusho (in Japanese).Google Scholar
Jöst, F and Quaas, MF (2010) Environmental and population externalities. Environment and Development Economics 15, 1–19.Google Scholar
Jouvet, P-A, Michel, P and Pestieau, P (2000 a) Altruism, voluntary contributions and neutrality: the case of environment quality. Economica 67, 465–475.Google Scholar
Jouvet, P-A, Michel, P and Vidal, J-P (2000 b) Intergenerational altruism and the environment. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 102, 135–150.Google Scholar
Lapan, HE and Enders, W (1990) Endogenous fertility, Ricardian equivalence, and debt management policy. Journal of Public Economics 41, 227–248.Google Scholar
Leibenstein, H (1974) An interpretation of the economic theory of fertility: promising path or blind alley? Journal of Economic Literature 12, 457–479.Google Scholar
Marsiglio, S (2017) A simple endogenous growth model with endogenous fertility and environmental concern. Scottish Journal of Political Economy 64, 263–282.Google Scholar
Martínez-Zarzoso, I and Bengochea-Morancho, A (2004) Pooled mean group estimation of an environmental Kuznets curve for CO2. Economics Letters 82, 121–126.Google Scholar
OECD Social Expenditure Database (2016) Social Expenditure – Aggregated data: Public expenditure on family by type of expenditure (cash and in kind), in % GDP. Available at https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGG.Google Scholar
Schou, P (2002) Pollution externalities in a model of endogenous fertility and growth. International Tax and Public Finance 9, 709–725.Google Scholar
Varvarigos, D (2010) Environmental degradation, longevity, and the dynamics of economic development. Environmental and Resource Economics 46, 59–73.Google Scholar
Varvarigos, D (2014) Endogenous longevity and the joint dynamics of pollution and capital accumulation. Environment and Development Economics 19, 393–416.Google Scholar
Varvarigos, D and Zakaria, IZ (2017) Longevity, fertility and economic growth: do environmental factors matter? Review of Development Economics 21, 43–66.Google Scholar
Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA) (2019) State of water: Republic of Korea. Available at http://www.wepa-db.net/policies/state/southkorea/southkorea.htm.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Hirazawa et al. supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Hirazawa et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 216 KB