石曜合 Yau-Huo (Jimmy) Shr

The Environment as the Invisible Hand

Although sometimes not salient, the environment continuously affects people in numerous ways. By uncovering new mechanisms through which the environment influences every individual, our research aims to remind us that we are inevitably shaped by our surroundings. Using data on individual behavior in Taiwan, we find that, in one study, elevated air pollution is associated with fewer traffic accident casualties; in another, the COVID pandemic—a transformative event arguably arising from the interaction between humans and nature—led to fewer traffic violations, particularly those posing more immediate threats to life. A unifying mechanism is that, whether consciously or not, people tend to behave more cautiously when external conditions become dangerous. This, perhaps, reflects just how powerful the environment can be. As a social scientist, I hope our research encourages people to pay a little more attention to the seemingly small things that the environment offers in everyday life and serves as one more step toward caring more deeply about our environment.