The role of economic perceptions in influencing views on climate change: an experimental analysis with British respondents

Abstract

Existing analysis suggests that individuals may reduce their concern for and belief in climate change as a result of macro-economic difficulties. Such conclusions are predominantly based on repeated cross-sectional and pooled data making it difficult to separate out the effects of economic conditions from other explanatory factors. Approaching this question through experimentally priming individuals to feel a certain way about the economy has also proven difficult due to economic perceptions being difficult to alter in a survey setting (Kachi, Bernauer, & Gampfer, 2015). This paper thus investigates a related question on the effect of the salience of economic perceptions on climate change views using an online question-order experiment, whereby salience denotes the prominence of the issue in the mind of the respondent. Respondents were randomly assigned to receiving an economic prompting question before or after being asked about their climate change views. The results show no effect of the prompting on belief in anthropogenic climate change, but they do show an effect of prompting on prioritization of taking urgent action to address climate change. Those with a non-positive view of the economy were less likely to support urgent action in comparison to those who considered the economy to be performing well if they were asked first about their economic evaluations. The salience of economic evaluations and the direction of such evaluations would not be significant if economic evaluations themselves were not important, and thus the findings also reveal that economic evaluations do matter.

Environmentalism undercover: The environmental dimension of public support for domestic water charges

“…It is also posited that environmental protection is a luxury good that people value during good economic times when they feel they can afford it but deprioritise when the economy declines (Abou-Chadi and Kayser 2017). In support of this, an experimental study in Britain shows that individuals are more likely to prioritise action on climate change when they perceive the economy to be performing well (Kenny 2018). Thus, during harsh economic conditions it may be particularly onerous for individuals to support costly environmental policies.…”

The significance of political culture, economic context and instrument type for climate policy support: a cross-national study

“…A set of recent studies suggest the importance of economic conditions and dependencies (cf. Kenny, 2018;Ščasný et al, 2017). For example, studies of global climate negotiations suggest that oil-producing countries are reluctant to support the introduction of forceful emissions-targets and restrictions on the use of fossil fuels both domestically and on a global level, for fear of losing out economically if a transition to other energy sources becomes a widespread reality (cf.…”

The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden

“…Furthermore, perceived personal consequences, both the extent to which a policy measure is expected to imply higher financial costs for the individual (Kallbekken et al, 2013;Lubell, Vedlitz, Zahran, & Alston, 2006;Lubell et al, 2007;Schuitema et al, 2010) and affect behaviour by curtailing personal freedom (Jagers & Matti, 2010;Rienstra et al, 1999;Steg & Vlek, 1997) have been demonstrated as determinants for policy attitudes. Based on experimental data, Kenny (2018) for instance argues that economic evaluations have a tangible effect on the support for climate policies. As a basic model for policy support, therefore, we should expect the public to react more unfavourably when faced with a large tax increase than with a small one, as a larger tax increase will imply more tangible implications for individual costs.…”

“…In the current literature, a large number of factors are proposed to shape policy attitudes, spanning both individual motivation (Schleich, Schwirplies, & Ziegler, 2018;Steg, Dreijerink, & Abrahamse, 2005); political ideology (Feldman & Hart, 2017); institutional, political and interpersonal trust (cf. Dietz, Dan, & Shwom, 2007;Hammar & Jagers, 2006;Harring, 2014;Kallbekken, Garcia, & Korneliussen, 2013); and contextual variables such as degree of political polarization (Linde, 2018), economic conditions and dependencies (Jagers & Matti, in press;Kenny, 2018;Ščasný et al, 2017), political culture (Cherry, García, Kallbekken, & Torvanger, 2014) and quality of government (Harring, 2015).…”