NTRES 2201 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of previous lectureI. Last time: Social theoryII. InequalityA) Gini coefficientB) Inequality trendsIII. Inequality and the environmentA) Kuznets curveB) Environmental Kuznets curveOutline of current lectureI. AnnouncementII. Boyce’s articleIII Environmental justiceA) “White male effect”B) GenderC) RaceCurrent lectureI. Announcement*Midterm grading will be done soon*Won’t be handed back in lecture, at least not until they have the distributionII. Boyce article*Greater levels of inequality are lined to greater levels of environmental degradation*There are winners and loser associated with environmental degradation*People are only messing up the environment to produce something, this means there are people benefiting and others shouldering the cost*How come winners can impose costs on losers?1) The losers don’t yet exist (future generations)2) The losers don’t know that they are losers 3) They know they are losers, but they don’t have the power or capacity to resist*Within economics, something is “efficient” if it produces more benefit than cost-It doesn’t really matter who the losers are and who the winners are-Boyce, however, believe that it does matter who the winners and losers are*Reality: winners ignore losers if possible (increased transaction cost)-Bigger power difference=the greater ability to impose costs on the losers-When there is a huge power difference, they can pretty much do what they want, These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.nobody will keep them in check, they can impose whatever environmental costs they wantIII. Environmental justice*Strong evidence of differences in attitudes between gender and raceA) ”White male effect” – white males tend to be least concerned about environmental problems and risk*Why?*Are they correct to be less concerned about the environment?*Cognitive fix*Are there differences in exposure?B) Gender*Remember, these are general statements*Are there differences and if so, where do they come from?-YES, women in the US tend to be more concerned about environmental problems*Could it be exposure? Are women more exposed to environmental problems?-Probably not, men and women tend to occupy the same spaces-There could be differences in perceived environmental risk, however-Consider: what do we mean by environment? Are we speaking in terms of global or local issues?*The difference between men and women tend not to be very large overall, but it is quite different in terms of site specific environmental risks-Also when they have an element of terror (nuclear waste, etc)*Hypotheses1) Differences in knowledge-This is not a statistically significant difference2) Institutional trust-Men tend to have a lot more faith in the institutions designed to keep us safe3) Economic salience-Men are more likely to be concerned with economic issues because they are more often the ones who bring home the bread-The primary difference is not gender, but jobs (more men just happen to work in extraction jobs)4) Health and safety-Women tend to be caregivers-On average, when given the same statistic (ex: there is a 0.0001% chance of a nearby nuclear plant meltdown), women are less likely to accept a low percentage than men)C) Race*Environmental racism*Is this issue really still around?-In 2000, 9 million US citizens checked more than one race on the census-In 2010, this had increase by 32%-Why? – People have realized what they can identify as, more recognition of multiple races*To compare groups: 1) Poverty rates, 2) Unemployment rates, 3) Incarceration rates-We can use these to compare African American, Latino, and Caucasion-Poverty: Af Am: 27.4%, Latino: 26.6%, C: 9.9%-Unemployment: Af Am: 14%, Latino: 13%, C: 7%-Incarceration: Af Am: 1/15 , Latino: 1/36 , C: 1/106-CLEARLY THERE IS A DIFFERENCE*African Americans tend to be less concerned with environmental concerns-Unlike with gender, living spaces tend to be segregated in many cases-African Americans tend to live in poorer communities*Hierarchy of needs-If people struggle with basic needs like food and shelter, how can they be expected to be concerned with the environment *Explanations:1) Not about race, more about income-There just happens to be a correlation between minority races and lower incomes-Testing this: control the income and observe2) There are simply different cultures-These have involve different consideration for the environment*We also have to consider what environment means when talking about race-Like women, the global issues aren’t as much of a concern, but the specialized concerns that are close to home evoke even MORE concern-Nasty environmental issues tend to be concentrated in POOR MINORITY areas (independent effects of poverty and independent effects of race)*Back to Boyce: from a business standpoint, it makes sense-You want to minimize your costs, so it makes sense to put your waste and other material in areas where people can’t fight