Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16343
Authors: Armin Falk; Peter Andre; Teodora Boneva; Felix Chopra
Abstract: We document individual willingness to fight climate change and its behavioral determinants in a large representative sample of US adults. Willingness to fight climate change – as measured through an incentivized donation decision – is highly heterogeneous across the population. Individual beliefs about social norms, economic preferences such as patience and altruism, as well as universal moral values positively predict climate preferences. Moreover, we document systematic misperceptions of prevalent social norms. Respondents vastly underestimate the prevalence of climate- friendly behaviors and norms among their fellow citizens. Providing respondents with correct information causally raises individual willingness to fight climate change as well as individual support for climate policies. The effects are strongest for individuals who are skeptical about the existence and threat of global warming.
Keywords: climate change; climate behavior; climate policies; social norms; economic preferences; moral values; beliefs; survey experiments
JEL Codes: D64; D83; D91; Q51; Z13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| perceived social norms (Z13) | climate preferences (Q54) |
| accurate information about climate norms (Q54) | individual willingness to fight climate change (Q54) |
| behavior treatment (D91) | donations (D64) |
| norms treatment (C21) | donations (D64) |
| perceived share of Americans trying to fight global warming (Q54) | donation amounts (D64) |
| perceived social norms (Z13) | climate action (Q54) |
| treatments (I12) | shifting beliefs of climate change skeptics (Q54) |