Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene
We consider two aspects of the human enterprise that profoundly affect the global environment: population and consumption. We show that fertility and consumption behavior harbor a class of externalities that have not been much noted in the literature. Both are driven in part by attitudes and preferences that are not egoistic but socially embedded; that is, each household's decisions are influenced by the decisions made by others. In a famous paper, Garrett Hardin [G. Hardin, Science 162, 1243-1248 (1968)] drew attention to overpopulation and concluded that the solution lay in people “abandoning the freedom to breed.” That human attitudes and practices are socially embedded suggests that it is possible for people to reduce their fertility rates and consumption demands without experiencing a loss in wellbeing. We focus on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa and consumption in the rich world and argue that bottom-up social mechanisms rather than top-down government interventions are better placed to bring about those ecologically desirable changes.
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article/Letter to editor biblioteca |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | Consumption, Fertility, Socially embedded preferences, |
Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/social-dimensions-of-fertility-behavior-and-consumption-patterns- |
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dig-wur-nl-wurpubs-5634922024-08-15 Barrett, Scott Dasgupta, Aisha Dasgupta, Partha Neil Adger, W. Anderies, John van den Bergh, Jeroen Bledsoe, Caroline Bongaarts, John Carpenter, Stephen Stuart Chapin, F. Crépin, Anne Sophie Daily, Gretchen Ehrlich, Paul Folke, Carl Kautsky, Nils Lambin, Eric F. Levin, Simon A. Mäler, Karl Göran Naylor, Rosamond Nyborg, Karine Polasky, Stephen Scheffer, Marten Shogren, Jason Jørgensen, Peter Søgaard Walker, Brian Wilen, James Article/Letter to editor Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117 (2020) 12 ISSN: 0027-8424 Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene 2020 We consider two aspects of the human enterprise that profoundly affect the global environment: population and consumption. We show that fertility and consumption behavior harbor a class of externalities that have not been much noted in the literature. Both are driven in part by attitudes and preferences that are not egoistic but socially embedded; that is, each household's decisions are influenced by the decisions made by others. In a famous paper, Garrett Hardin [G. Hardin, Science 162, 1243-1248 (1968)] drew attention to overpopulation and concluded that the solution lay in people “abandoning the freedom to breed.” That human attitudes and practices are socially embedded suggests that it is possible for people to reduce their fertility rates and consumption demands without experiencing a loss in wellbeing. We focus on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa and consumption in the rich world and argue that bottom-up social mechanisms rather than top-down government interventions are better placed to bring about those ecologically desirable changes. en application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/social-dimensions-of-fertility-behavior-and-consumption-patterns- 10.1073/pnas.1909857117 https://edepot.wur.nl/520083 Consumption Fertility Socially embedded preferences https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research |
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Consumption Fertility Socially embedded preferences Consumption Fertility Socially embedded preferences |
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Consumption Fertility Socially embedded preferences Consumption Fertility Socially embedded preferences Barrett, Scott Dasgupta, Aisha Dasgupta, Partha Neil Adger, W. Anderies, John van den Bergh, Jeroen Bledsoe, Caroline Bongaarts, John Carpenter, Stephen Stuart Chapin, F. Crépin, Anne Sophie Daily, Gretchen Ehrlich, Paul Folke, Carl Kautsky, Nils Lambin, Eric F. Levin, Simon A. Mäler, Karl Göran Naylor, Rosamond Nyborg, Karine Polasky, Stephen Scheffer, Marten Shogren, Jason Jørgensen, Peter Søgaard Walker, Brian Wilen, James Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene |
description |
We consider two aspects of the human enterprise that profoundly affect the global environment: population and consumption. We show that fertility and consumption behavior harbor a class of externalities that have not been much noted in the literature. Both are driven in part by attitudes and preferences that are not egoistic but socially embedded; that is, each household's decisions are influenced by the decisions made by others. In a famous paper, Garrett Hardin [G. Hardin, Science 162, 1243-1248 (1968)] drew attention to overpopulation and concluded that the solution lay in people “abandoning the freedom to breed.” That human attitudes and practices are socially embedded suggests that it is possible for people to reduce their fertility rates and consumption demands without experiencing a loss in wellbeing. We focus on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa and consumption in the rich world and argue that bottom-up social mechanisms rather than top-down government interventions are better placed to bring about those ecologically desirable changes. |
format |
Article/Letter to editor |
topic_facet |
Consumption Fertility Socially embedded preferences |
author |
Barrett, Scott Dasgupta, Aisha Dasgupta, Partha Neil Adger, W. Anderies, John van den Bergh, Jeroen Bledsoe, Caroline Bongaarts, John Carpenter, Stephen Stuart Chapin, F. Crépin, Anne Sophie Daily, Gretchen Ehrlich, Paul Folke, Carl Kautsky, Nils Lambin, Eric F. Levin, Simon A. Mäler, Karl Göran Naylor, Rosamond Nyborg, Karine Polasky, Stephen Scheffer, Marten Shogren, Jason Jørgensen, Peter Søgaard Walker, Brian Wilen, James |
author_facet |
Barrett, Scott Dasgupta, Aisha Dasgupta, Partha Neil Adger, W. Anderies, John van den Bergh, Jeroen Bledsoe, Caroline Bongaarts, John Carpenter, Stephen Stuart Chapin, F. Crépin, Anne Sophie Daily, Gretchen Ehrlich, Paul Folke, Carl Kautsky, Nils Lambin, Eric F. Levin, Simon A. Mäler, Karl Göran Naylor, Rosamond Nyborg, Karine Polasky, Stephen Scheffer, Marten Shogren, Jason Jørgensen, Peter Søgaard Walker, Brian Wilen, James |
author_sort |
Barrett, Scott |
title |
Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene |
title_short |
Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene |
title_full |
Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene |
title_fullStr |
Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene |
title_full_unstemmed |
Social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the Anthropocene |
title_sort |
social dimensions of fertility behavior and consumption patterns in the anthropocene |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/social-dimensions-of-fertility-behavior-and-consumption-patterns- |
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