Cultural capital as a determinant of residential water saving: conceptual framework and empirical evidence in Italian households

Pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) aimed at protecting and preserving natural resources have spread especially in recent decades. In the current work we focus mainly on water conservation, looking for strategies that can help policymakers and individuals to protect this important natural resource especially in a period of water scarcity. Data coming from the survey "Aspects of daily life 2020" of the Italian National Institute of Statistics are considered and a Generalized Ordered Probit model is implemented. Moreover, with the aim of addressing potential identification issues, an instrumental variable approach is shown. The main finding that catches our attention is that participation in cultural events has a positive and statistically significant impact on pro-social water-saving behavior for a large Italian population sample. On the whole, while the present study provides only preliminary findings, it shows how scores of synergies between environmental policies and cultural policies can be exploited in the future by policymakers and it paves the way for important opportunities for further research.