The Impacts of Other-Regarding Preferences and Ethical Choice on Environmental Outcomes: A Review of the Literature
This paper reviews the literature concerning the impacts
of other-regarding preferences and ethical choice on environmental outcomes
when agents behave strategically. We consider two types of other-regarding
preferences: (i) envy or status concern, (ii) altruism and inequality aversion.
We contrast the preference-based approach with the ethical approach in which
some choices are made on ethical ground and thus are not necessarily
utility-maximizing. Models exhibiting other-regarding preferences do not yield
unambiguous results concerning the effects of strategic behavior on the
environment. In contrast, models in which choices are motivated by Kantian
ethics display more robust results.
[ - ]