On the Self-interested Use of Equity in International Climate Negotiations / Andreas Lange, Andreas Löschel, Carsten Vogt, Andreas Ziegler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lange, Andreas.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Löschel, Andreas.

Vogt, Carsten.

Ziegler, Andreas.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w14930.

NBER working paper series no. w14930

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

We discuss self-interested uses of equity arguments in international climate negotiations. Using unique data from a world-wide survey of agents involved in international climate policy, we show that the perceived support of different equity rules by countries or groups of countries may be explained by their economic costs. Despite being self-interested, equity arguments may be perceived as being used for different reasons, for example, out of fairness considerations or in order to facilitate negotiations. Consistent with experimental and behavioral studies on fairness perceptions, we find that individuals are more likely to state reasons with positive attributes if they evaluate their own region or regions that support the individual's personally preferred equity rule. Negotiators perceive the use of equity by regions as less influenced by pressure from interest groups.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2009.