Going green: does it depend on education, gender or income?

Sustainable development entails meeting our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This requires us to treat economic, social and environmental aspects in an integrated way, but little is known about the nature of individual preferences towards the trade-offs involved in this effort. For the first time, we study individual preferences towards the environment, social well-being and financial well-being by using a survey of over 1400 households in the Netherlands. Using nonparametric, parametric and matching methods, we find that gender and education are important factors for sustainability rather than income levels. Moreover, results indicate that educated females put the greatest value on going green whilst being socially minded.