UC San Diego

Climate change is one of the largest challenges of our time. This dissertation assesses the economics of water conservation programs in the face of increasing water scarcity and estimates the causal impact of education on people’s climate-related beliefs, behaviors, policy preferences and voting.

Chapter 1 focuses on takeup of water-conserving rebate campaigns in the U.S. Southwest, estimating a demand curve, neighbor spillovers, and heterogeneity for programs replacing thirsty grass lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping. I find strong evidence that households respond to rebate generosity: a 1% increase in generosity leads to a 0.93% increase in takeup. Each conversion leads to an additional 0.61 adoptions the following year. I also find substantial heterogeneity by race and wealth, with Hispanic rebate applicants 47% more likely than White applicants to have their application rejected, a disparity that completely disappears when using a contractor.

Chapter 2 uses thermal infrared satellite imagery to estimate temperature changes from such landscaping conversions in an event study analysis. Conversions increase summertime parcel temperatures by 0.6°C (1.1°F) with effects twice as large on the hottest 20% of days and for homes with the most removed vegetation. Using existing estimates from the literature, this implies annual heat costs of $1,675 per household, comprised of increased electricity usage ($48) and mortality risk ($306), as well as harder-to-quantify comfort values, diminished cognition, and costly adaptation behavior. In contrast, water savings are only $574-954 for a typical home, depending on water price.

Chapter 3 estimates the causal effect of education on pro-climate survey responses using variation in compulsory schooling laws across 20 European countries. An additional year of education increases pro-climate beliefs, behaviors, and policy preferences with no detectable effect on voting for green parties. Results are robust to the functional form specification of the time trend, the selection of included countries and reforms, as well as an alternative specification of the instrument.