No Man is an Island - Social coordination and the Environment

Karine Nyborg

No 7/2019, Memorandum from Oslo University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Humans are fundamentally social. Social activities require coordination, which may yield multiple equilibria in the form of stable, self-reinforcing patterns of herd behavior. Since environmental impacts can differ substantially between alternative equilibria, such self-reinforcing behaviors may, from an environmental perspective, be viewed as representing virtuous or vicious cycles. Environmental policies can help break the self-fulfilling expectations of vicious cycles, tipping the economy to more environment-friendly equilibria.

Keywords: Environmental policy; multiple equilibria; social interaction; tipping points (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 D62 D91 Q01 Q50 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2019-06-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-hme
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Related works:
Journal Article: No Man is an Island: Social Coordination and the Environment (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:osloec:2019_007

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