Do Constitutions Matter? The Effects of Constitutional Environmental Rights Provisions on Environmental Outcomes

Christopher Jeffords and Lanse Minkler ()

No 2014-16, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: We use a novel data set within an instrumental variables framework to test whether the presence and legal strength of constitutional environmental rights are related to environmental outcomes. The outcome variables include Yale’s Environmental Performance Index and some of its components. The analysis accounts for the possibility that a country which takes steps to protect the environment might also be more likely to constitutionalize environmental rights. Controls include: (1) gross domestic product per capita (2) whether the country is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; (3) rule of law; (4) population density; and (5) exogenous geographic effects. The inclusion of income means that our study is directly related to the Environmental Kuznets Curve literature. We find that constitutions do indeed matter for positive environmental outcomes, which suggests that we should not only pay attention to the incentives confronting polluters and resource users, but also to the incentives and constraints confronting those policymakers who initiate, monitor, and enforce environmental policies.

Keywords: Constitutional Law; Environment; Environmental Kuznets Curve; Environmental Rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K10 K32 O13 Q50 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2014-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-res
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Journal Article: Do Constitutions Matter? The Effects of Constitutional Environmental Rights Provisions on Environmental Outcomes (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2014-16

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