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AbstractThe current study examined how financial scarcity and natural resource scarcity independently and interactively influence sustainable choices and motivations. Participants performed a shopping task where they chose between sustainable and conventional products, and rated their motivations for their choice. We found that financial scarcity reduced sustainable product choices, lowered pro‐environmental motivations, but increased motivations to save financial costs (Experiment 1). In contrast, perceived scarcity of natural resources (i.e., water) increased sustainable choices and pro‐environmental motivations (Experiment 2). By combining financial and water scarcity, we further replicated and highlighted the distinct impacts of financial scarcity and water scarcity on sustainable choices and motivations (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that the abundance of financial resources or perceived natural resource scarcity can increase green consumer choices and motivations. The findings provide implications for environmental initiatives and campaigns to promote sustainable choices for people with different socio‐economic backgrounds and different levels of environmental resources.

"While much progress has been made in reducing poverty worldwide--especially in the pre-pandemic era--it is fair to say that an unacceptably large proportion of the world's people still live in poverty. Cash Transfers for Inclusive Societies sheds light on the widely prevalent cash transfer programs. The book asks these central questions: What is the state of the art in the development of welfare programs? What do we know works in these programs and what does not? How can an understanding of behavioral science better inform the design, delivery, and evaluation of welfare programs? The latest title in the Behaviorally Informed Organizations series, the book develops a nuanced framework for how governments, practitioners, and society in general should design cash transfer programs to improve inclusivity, reduce poverty, and improve equality. It draws on field experiments and case studies to showcase past successes, while also building frameworks and developing prescriptive advice that we can give to practitioners who are looking to design a behaviorally informed cash transfer program. With contributions from leading academics as well as seasoned practitioners, Cash Transfers for Inclusive Societies presents a new model to policymakers to study and shift the discourse on poverty alleviation from purely economic factors to also behavioral ones."

[View the peer-reviewed publication for free at https://rdcu.be/cFkw1] To achieve a sustainable future, it is imperative to transform human actions collectively and underlying social structures. Decades of research in social sciences have offered complementary insights into how such transformations might occur. However, these insights largely remain disjunct and of limited scope, such that strategies for solving global environmental challenges remain elusive. There is a need to integrate approaches focusing on individuals and social structures to understand how individual actions influence and are in turn influenced by social structures and norms. In this paper, we synthesize a range of insights across different schools of thought and integrate them in a novel framework for transformative social change. Our framework explains the relationships among individual behaviors, collective actions, and social structures and helps change agents guide societal transitions toward environmental sustainability. We apply this framework to the global wildlife trade – which presents several distinct challenges of human actions, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic – and identify pathways toward transformative change. One key distinction we make is between different individual actions that comprise the practice itself (e.g., buying wildlife products; private action) and those that push for a broader system change in practice (e.g., signaling (dis)approval for wildlife consumption; social-signaling action, and campaigning for policies that end unsustainable wildlife trade; system-changing action). In general, transformative change will require an integrative approach that includes both structural reforms and all three classes of individual action.

Carshare membership in North America has grown approximately 25% per year over the past decade. Some have attributed this to pro-environmental values and low-impact lifestyles of millennials, the primary users of carsharing. Many municipal governments have adopted this belief and support carsharing through various accommodations and subsidies. Results from a survey in Vancouver, Canada (which has the highest level of carsharing in North America) showed that one-way and two-way carsharing members have different motivations for carsharing and travel patterns. One-way members, primarily millennials, self-report that they carshare for convenience, using shared vehicles twice as frequently and private vehicles three times as frequently as two-way members. Two-way members choose carsharing for financial savings and a more efficient lifestyle. They tend to walk and bike more often than one-way members and the overall Vancouver population. These trip mode and frequency differences are consistent across age, gender, income, and geography. Perhaps as a consequence of the above, we also found that while one-way members are on average younger and wealthier, two-way members self-report as having more affordable lifestyles. These findings point to two-way carsharing members adhering to more efficient, sustainable lifestyles. Municipalities may consider these differences in motivations and trip patterns between one-way and two-way members of relevance in their carsharing policies. ; Arts, Faculty of ; Science, Faculty of ; Psychology, Department of ; Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for ; Reviewed ; Faculty

Plastic pollution has become a major global conservation challenge. To reduce the generation of plastic waste, we designed and tested several behavioral interventions in a randomized control trial to reduce plastic waste in a high-rise office building. We randomly assigned eight floors in the building to four conditions: (1) simplified recycling signage, (2) signage with a marine animal trapped in plastic debris, (3) signage with a pledge that invited people to be plastic wise to protect ocean life, and (4) control. We found that the signage with the animal reduced plastic waste by 17%, the largest effect among the other conditions. After implementing the signage to the entire building, we found an overall reduction in plastic waste over 6 weeks. The current study demonstrates the effectiveness of visualizing marine consequences of plastic waste and provides a behavioral solution connecting disposal actions and the downstream consequences for plastic waste reduction.

AbstractIt has been well established that better educated individuals enjoy better health and longevity. In theory, the educational gradients in health could be flattening if diminishing returns to improved average education levels and the influence of earlier population health interventions outweigh the gradient-steepening effects of new medical and health technologies. This paper documents how the gradients are evolving in China, a rapidly developing country, about which little is known on this topic. Based on recent mortality data and nationally representative health surveys, we find large and, in some cases, steepening educational gradients. We also find that the gradients vary by cohort, gender and region. Further, we find that the gradients can only partially be accounted for by economic factors. These patterns highlight the double disadvantage of those with low education, and suggest the importance of policy interventions that foster both aspects of human capital for them.

It has been well established that better educated individuals enjoy better health and longevity. In theory, the educational gradients in health could be flattening if diminishing returns to improved average education levels and the influence of earlier population health interventions outweigh the gradient-steepening effects of new medical and health technologies. This paper documents how the gradients are evolving in China, a rapidly developing country, about which little is known on this topic. Based on recent mortality data and nationally representative health surveys, we find large and, in some cases, steepening educational gradients. We also find that the gradients vary by cohort, gender and region. Further, we find that the gradients can only partially be accounted for by economic factors. These patterns highlight the double disadvantage of those with low education, and suggest the importance of policy interventions that foster both aspects of human capital for them. (China Q/GIGA)

In urban China, mortality from injuries has increased over the past five decades. By contrast, life expectancy has continued to increase and has come to nearly equal life expectancy in developed countries. Currently, most of the life expectancy lost due to injury (65%) in urban China would be recovered if injury rates were the same as in countries with low injury-related mortality. Fundamentally, the rising trend in urban injury mortality in China reflects a continued focus on injury treatment rather than prevention in the face of fast socioeconomic development and increasing exposure to risk factors for injury. Despite improved injury prevention legislation and a 'Safe Community' campaign, urban China needs to modify its approach to urban injury management and focus on prevention. The gap between urban China and countries with low injury mortality can be closed by means of legislation, strengthened law enforcement and the establishment of safer communities. Risks affecting children and migrants deserve greater attention, and the government needs to allocate more resources to injury prevention to mid-western urban areas in particular. Based on the population size of urban China, measures for the prevention of injury mortality would save an annual 436.4 million years of life.