Essays on Environmental and Behavioral Economics

Abstract: As developing countries strive to attain rapid economic growth and thereby reduce poverty, the ensuing climate change crisis is making it necessary for these countries to achieve the targeted economic growth through low-carbon footprint. This thesis investigates the roles of economic agents and their interactions in tackling the twin challenges of poverty reduction and climate change. Chapter 1 focuses on the challenges raised by the passenger transport sector and investigates the effect a recent policy change in Ethiopia that aimed at increasing adoption of fuel-efficient vehicles. Chapter 2 investigates cost of power outages for manufacturing micro, small and medium enterprises. Chapter 3 investigates the intergenerational transmission of positional preferences among households in urban Ethiopia. The last chapter, Chapter 4 focuses on measuring trust in institutions.