Catastrophe Theory Predicts International Concern for Global Warming
- PDF / 1,636,118 Bytes
- 23 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 24 Downloads / 172 Views
Catastrophe Theory Predicts International Concern for Global Warming Mohamed M. Mostafa1
© The Indian Econometric Society 2020
Abstract Global warming is considered one of the most far-reaching environmental problems facing human kind. Thus, understanding international concern for global warming might be the key in creating mitigation and adaptation policies. In this research we aim to assess public concern for global warming at the international level based on a large sample representing 47 nations. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to use catastrophe theory to study the influence of factors such as GDP, CO2 emissions, environmental problems and demographic factors on global warming concern. Stochastic cusp models’ results support the affluence and post-materialism hypotheses advocated by Inglehart. However, our findings contradict the objective environmental problems hypothesis postulated by the same environmental scholar. Results also reveal the existence of a global warming environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Finally, our findings show that global warming is driven by demographic factors such as age, religiosity and educational level. The findings of this research highlight the importance of applying nonlinear dynamic techniques in investigating concern for global warming at the international level. Keywords Catastrophe theory · Cusp models · Global warming · Post-materialism · Religiosity
Introduction Global warming is widely recognized as probably the most serious environmental problem facing our planet (Skogen et al. 2018). Wang et al. (2018) noted that people nowadays tend to think that global warming will affect places near them. In a similar vein, current research shows that global warming is personally important to the majority of the world population (Ballew et al. 2019; Marlon et al. 2019). Global warming has been linked to rising sea levels, reduced crop * Mohamed M. Mostafa [email protected] 1
Gulf University for Science and Technology, Hawally, Kuwait
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Quantitative Economics
yield, deforestation, melting glaciers severe temperatures and infectious diseases (Claesson and Nycander 2013; Liang and Gong 2017; Ogden and Robbin 2016; Oskamp 2000). Research has also linked global warming to increased crime rates (Rotton and Coin 2003), increased armed conflicts at both international (Salehyan and Hendrix 2014) and regional levels (Breckner and Sunde 2019). Similarly, global warming has been linked to the stability of the financial system in the corporate sector (Dafermos et al. 2018). In fact, Boston and Lemp (2011) claimed that global warming can cause irreversible damage to our bio-physical system unless timely measures are taken. Academic research suggests that the first step in forming pro-environmental attitudes starts by the general public belief in global warming (Capstick and Pidgeon 2014; Krosnick et al. 2006; Shiva 2008). Although previous research investigating concern for global warming has traditionally focused more on dev
Data Loading...
