Do we care about sustainability? An analysis of time sensitivity of social preferences under environmental time-persistent effects.
Environmental cost-benefit analysis has traditionally assumed that the value of benefits is sensitive to their timing and that outcomes are valued higher, the sooner in time they occur following implementation of a project or policy. Though, this assumption might have important implications especially for the social desirability of interventions aiming at counteracting time-persistent environmental problems, whose impacts occur in the long- and very long-term, respectively involving the present and future generations. This study analyzes the time sensitivity of social preferences for preservation policies of adaptation to climate change stresses. Results show that stated preferences are time insensitive, due to sustainability issues: individuals show insignificant differences in benefits they can experience within their own lifetimes compared to those which occur in the longer term, and which will instead be enjoyed by future generations. Whilst these results may be specific to the experimental design employed here, they do raise interesting questions regarding choices over time-persistent environmental problems, particularly in terms of the desirability of interventions which produce longer-term benefits.
Department of Applied Economics at the University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra. de Valldemossa Km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: Michela.Faccioli@hutton.ac.uk.
Michela
M
Faccioli
Department of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St. Andrews, Irvine Building, North Street, KY16 9AL, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.
Nick
N
Hanley
Department of Applied Economics at the University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra. de Valldemossa Km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Cati
C
Torres
Department of Applied Economics at the University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra. de Valldemossa Km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Antoni Riera
AR
Font
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D002755:Choice Behavior; D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D058735:Environmental Policy; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009042:Motivation; D011639:Public Opinion; D013030:Spain
Choice experiment; Climate change; Preference analysis; Sustainability; Time sensitivity; Time-persistent environmental problems