Intergenerational solidarity, human values and consideration of the future

Abstract

In order to advance our understanding of our individual and collective attitudes and behaviour towards the future, this interdisciplinary thesis constructs and explores psychometric and econometric measures of values, consideration of future consequences and intergenerational solidarity. First, a novel global index of intergenerational solidarity combining environmental, economic and social dimensions is constructed to enable intra- and international comparisons of the flows of capital that make up the inheritance of future generations. This covers >90% of world population in 120 countries and reveals striking global patterns, with Confucian and Nordic countries scoring above-average, and will facilitate further research into intergenerational solidarity. Second, the links between basic human values and consideration of future consequences in a sample (n=833) of Icelandic students are explored after robust validation of newly-translated measurement constructs, revealing that values predict a quarter of the variation in future orientation. Further patterns and implications for further research are discussed.