From genes to goods: understanding climate policy diffusion in the Commonwealth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17811/ebl.15.2.2026.83-94Keywords:
Commonwealth, climate change policies, genetic distance, trade from the UKAbstract
This letter revisits the relationship between national responses to climate change and genetic distance, which serves as a proxy for biological dissimilarities between countries, as well as the role of trade at both the global level and within a group of countries. Using cross-sectional data from 103 countries worldwide, including up to 23 Commonwealth nations, this study finds that improvements in climate policy are primarily driven by trade integration as an economic intervention tool within this group, rather than by genetic differences. These effects can be explained by differences in income and the importation of environmental goods and services from the UK.
Downloads
References
Ang, J. B., & Fredriksson, P. G. (2021). Does an early start help or hurt? Statehood, institutions and modern climate change policies. Energy Economics, 94, 105075.
Borcan, O., Olsson, O., & Putterman, L. (2018). State history and economic development: evidence from six millennia. Journal of Economic Growth, 23(1), 1-40.
Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., Menozzi, P., & Piazza, A. (1994). The history and geography of human genes. Princeton University Press.
Duong, K. T., Ongena, S., Vu, N. T., & Huynh, L. D. T. (2024). Sanctions and Knowledge Spillovers. Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper, (25-01).
Sharma, S., Ang, J. B., & Fredriksson, P. G. (2021). Religiosity and climate change policies. Energy Economics, 101, 105414.
Spolaore, E., & Wacziarg, R. (2009). The diffusion of development. The Quarterly journal of Economics, 124(2), 469-529.
Steves, F., Treisman, D., & Teytelboyn, A. (2011). The Low Carbon Transition. London: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Chap. four, Political economy of climate change policy in the transition region.
Nordhaus, W. (2015). Climate clubs: Overcoming free-riding in international climate policy. American Economic Review, 105(4), 1339-1370.
Oster, E. (2019). Unobservable selection and coefficient stability: Theory and evidence. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, 37(2), 187-204.
Ostrom, E. (2000). Collective action and the evolution of social norms. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3), 137-158.
Vu, T. V. (2025). Barriers to the Cross‐Border Diffusion of Climate Change Policies. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12514
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The works published in this journal are subject to the following terms:
1. Oviedo University Press (the publisher) retains the property rights (copyright) of published works, and encourages and enables the reuse of the same under the license specified in paragraph 2.
© Ediuno. Ediciones de la Universidad de Oviedo / Oviedo University Press
2. The works are published in the online edition of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Non Derives 3.0 Spain (legal text). You can copy, use, distribute, transmit and publicly display, provided that: i) you cite the author and the original source of publication (journal, publisher and URL of the work), ii) they are not used for commercial purposes, iii) mentions the existence and specifications of this license.
3. Conditions of self-archiving. The author can archive the post-print version of the article (publisher’s version) on the author’s personal website and/or on the web of the institution where he belong, including a link to the page of the journal and putting the way of citation of the work. Economics and Business Letters and its URL https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/EBL/index are the only authorized source for correctly giving the reference of the publisher’s version in every mention of the article.
