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Climate Change Awareness and Willingness to Pay for its Mitigation: Evidence from the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Monica Novackova

    (Department of Economics, University of Sussex)

  • Richard S.J. Tol

    (Department of Economics, University of Sussex
    Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
    Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
    Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam)

Abstract

We explore an unprecedented dataset of almost 6000 observations to identify main predictors of climate knowledge, climate risk perception and willingness to pay for climate change mitigation. Among nearly 70 potential explanatory variables we detect the most important ones using multisplit lasso estimator. Importantly, we test significance of individuals' preferences about time, risk and equity. Our study is innovative as these behavioural characteristics were recorded by including experimental methods into a live sample survey. This unique way of data collection combines advantages of survey and experiments. The most important predictors of environmental attitudes are numeracy, cognitive ability, ideological world-view and inequity aversion.

Suggested Citation

  • Monica Novackova & Richard S.J. Tol, 2018. "Climate Change Awareness and Willingness to Pay for its Mitigation: Evidence from the UK," Working Paper Series 0318, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sus:susewp:0318
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate change; climate knowledge; climate policy; lasso; risk perception; willingness to pay;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General

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