Are Environmental Concerns Deterring People from Having Children?

Ben Lockwood (), Nattavudh Powdthavee and Andrew J. Oswald ()
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Ben Lockwood: University of Warwick
Andrew J. Oswald: University of Warwick

No 15620, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Are 'green' environmental concerns -- about climate change, biodiversity, pollution -- deterring today's citizens from having children? This paper, which we believe to be the first of its kind, reports preliminary evidence consistent with that increasingly discussed hypothesis. Our study has a simple longitudinal design. It follows through time a random sample of thousands of initially childless men and women in the UK. Those individuals who are committed to a green lifestyle are found to be less likely to go on to have offspring. Later analysis adjusts statistically for a large set of potential confounders, including age, education, marital status, mental health, life satisfaction, optimism, and physical health. Because there might be unobservable reasons why those who are pro-environmental may be less likely to want a child, and to try to ensure that the finding cannot be explained by selection and omitted variables, the paper explores Oster's (2019) bounds test. The paper's final estimated effect-size is substantial: a person entirely unconcerned about environmental behaviour is found to be approximately 60% more likely to go on to have a child when compared to a deeply committed environmentalist.

Keywords: environment; climate change; child-bearing; fertility; green (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Q50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2022-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-hea, nep-ltv and nep-res
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Ecological Economics, 2024, 220, 108184

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