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Does college education nourish egoism?

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Abstract

A contingent valuation study of the Exxon Valdez oil spill is presented to examine the effects of high school and college education on environmental valuation. It is shown that one more year of education up through high school would increase the median willingness-to-pay by about $13–$15 but a year of college education would decrease it by $5–$6. The study of the accompanying opinion survey suggests that the patterns of these effects may extend to a broader definition of public goods. It is found that the college-educated tend to favor less government spending on almost every area of public good. Does college education nourish egoism?

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Jo, Y. Does college education nourish egoism?. Environ Econ Policy Stud 4, 115–128 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03353919

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