Tackling environmental problems is one of the main policy challenges facing governments. The process of forming attitudes starts at a young age, and is mostly shaped by education. Participation in pro-environmental initiatives at schools is mainly voluntary. Local governments can play an important role as the institution that links communities with the environment. In this paper, we examine the role of local governments/municipalities on school participation in an environmental educational program, with a special focus on primary and secondary education.

Key findings:

While electricity is a key to economic development, nearly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without electricity.

This study analyses the socioeconomic benefits of electrification in Uganda.

The findings show that grid connectivity increases the number of work hours, female employment, household expenditure (meaning that the household is able to buy more of the goods that it needs), and key educational outcomes. 

Furthermore, the benefits from grid connectivity increase with time.

Environmental education is regarded as a key instrument for promoting pro-environmental behavior in early childhood. In this paper, we analyze the transmission process within a personal value system including knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding the consumption and disposal of plastics among school children, and the extent to which parents play a role in mediating that transmission. The study gathers data from a sample of 1,521 children in southern Chile.

Chilean mining municipalities collect a mineral tax to compensate for the negative externalities associated with resource extraction. Although this implies a positive marginal impact on local finance, there is not enough empirical evidence to support that this improves the quality of life in these communities. This article attempts to bridge this knowledge gap via a unique experimental framework, specifically, the Chilean tax system and a mining law that allows certain municipalities above an exogenous threshold to keep the extra income.