Accounting for Ecological Choices through Individual Commitments in Collective Actions: The Kovenant Model

Massimo Cervesato () and Mathieu Guigourez ()
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Massimo Cervesato: Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, https://ces.pantheonsorbonne.fr
Mathieu Guigourez: Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéo-Sorbonne, https://cv.hal.science/antoine-mandel

Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne

Abstract: This paper introduces the Kovenant model, a formal framework for understanding ecological choices as resulting from norm-guided individual commitments that emerge in fragmented collective contexts. Rather than primarily seeking to optimise outcomes or induce cooperation through incentives, the model represents how agents act as if an ecological covenant were in place, thereby reshaping their own decision-making structure. The model captures key behavioural features such as over-investment or crowding-out effects, showing that these are not irrational deviations, but responses to the absence of well-defined shared normative expectations. The Kovenant model offers, thus, theoretical ground for explaining ecological behaviours in emerging social norms

Keywords: Commitments; Collective Action; Ecological Behaviours; Common-Pool Resources; As if reasoning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 B40 D02 D70 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2026-01
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