Social capital and national environmental performance

Using cross-country data from a sample of low, middle and high-income countries, the paper provides the first empirical test of the empirical relationships between national measures of social capital (civic and public), social divergence and social capacity upon various indicators of national environmental performance. The results indicate a possible link between public social capital (democracy and corruption) and effective national environmental policies and the pivotal effects of economic and demographic determinants on national environmental performance. The policy implication is that improved national environmental performance may be best achieved by encouraging reductions in emissions and input intensities and improving the quality of public administration and democratic accountability. JEL classification: Q20, C21