Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

Abstract

We investigate whether there are green returns to education, where formal education encourages pro-environmental behaviours using nationally representative surveys on environmental issues in Thailand. To establish the causal relationship between education and green behaviours, we exploit the instrumental variables strategy using the supply of state primary schooling i.e. the corresponding number of teachers per 1000 children, which varies over time and across regions as the instrument, while controlling for regional, cohort and income effects. We find that more years of schooling lead to a greater probability of taking knowledge-based environmentallyfriendly actions a great deal, but not cost-saving pro-environmental actions. In addition, the paper finds no significant impact of formal education on concern about global warming nor the willingness to pay for environmental tax.

Greening through schooling: understanding the link between education and pro-environmental behavior in the Philippines

“…Other studies from high-income countries report similar results, such as Mills and Schleich (2012) Di Maria et al (2010), or Sardianou and Genoudi (2013). As one of a few studies from a developing country, Chankrajang and Muttarak (2017) report significant point estimates between 0.035 and 0.059 for education effects on different pro-environmental actions in Thailand (see Chankrajang and Muttarak 2017, page 441, table 5, col 1 to 4). The comparison of the findings suggests considerable similarities in the education effects across settings, which seem to be independent of the respective country wealth level.…”

“…Recent studies from high-income countries have emphasized the role of universal education as a mean to reduce demand-side emissions (Anderson 2012, Lutz andStriessnig 2015). For example, educated individuals have been found to have higher levels of environmental consciousness and to be more likely to show pro-environmental concerns and protective actions (Ortega-Egea et al 2014, Meyer 2015, Steg 2016, Chankrajang and Muttarak 2017, Long et al 2018. However, the exact channels through which education and more broadly learning affect environmental behavior require a deeper understanding, especially in resource-scarce and low-income contexts.…”

Returns to education among the informally employed in Thailand

“…Warunsiri and McNown () construct an IV from the locations of universities and/or teaching training colleges, which could plausibly increase higher education attainment for individuals located close to these institutions. Chankrajang and Muttarak () study green returns to education in Thailand also employing an IV approach to avoid the ability bias issue. They used the number of state primary school teachers per 1000 children as a proxy for the supply of education.…”

Environmental Behavior of Secondary Education Students: A Case Study at Central Greece

“…The main goal of such an educational reform is to change the school itself for promoting sustainability and helping today students to follow sustainable practices in their everyday life. Indeed, this educational reform is the tool for achieving sustainable development and instilling energy behavior into all levels of educational operation: teaching, social/organizational, and technical/financial [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. Educational activities play a dominant role to educate students on how to take initiatives, set goals, make decisions, handle information data, and be engaged in creative argumentation and productive criticism [67].…”