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Opinion Clusters in Academic and Public Debates on Growth-vs-Environment

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  • Drews, Stefan
  • Savin, Ivan
  • van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M.

Abstract

The debate about the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability involves many dimensions as well as much diversity in terminology. While it is often summarized in terms of dichotomous pro- and anti-growth positions, several studies indicate that additional views exist, and that these may differ between experts and the general public. The objective of this paper is to identify and analyze segments of the scientific and general population with distinct views in this respect. To this end, we bring together two data sets: one from a nationally representative survey of the general public of Spain (N = 1004) and another from an international survey of researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds (N = 814). Using latent class analysis, we identify three similar segments in the two samples, labeled as Green growth, Agrowth and Degrowth. Overall, clusters are more consistent, better distinguishable on all constituent dimensions and more polarized in the scientific than public opinion survey. In addition, we find that diverging views on social issues are more strongly associated with distinct clusters in the public opinion sample, and on environmental issues in the scientific opinion sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Drews, Stefan & Savin, Ivan & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2019. "Opinion Clusters in Academic and Public Debates on Growth-vs-Environment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 141-155.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:157:y:2019:i:c:p:141-155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.11.012
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    2. Tomaselli, Maria Fernanda & Sheppard, Stephen R.J. & Kozak, Robert & Gifford, Robert, 2019. "What do Canadians think about economic growth, prosperity and the environment?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 41-49.
    3. O'Dell, Dallas & Contu, Davide & Shreedhar, Ganga, 2025. "Public support for degrowth policies and sufficiency behaviours in the United States: a discrete choice experiment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126084, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Savin, Ivan & Drews, Stefan & van den Bergh, Jeroen, 2021. "GEM: A short “Growth-vs-Environment” Module for survey research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    5. Savin, Ivan & Drews, Stefan & van den Bergh, Jeroen, 2021. "Free associations of citizens and scientists with economic and green growth: A computational-linguistics analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    6. Akbulut, Bengi & Demaria, Federico & Gerber, Julien-François & Martínez-Alier, Joan, 2019. "Who promotes sustainability? Five theses on the relationships between the degrowth and the environmental justice movements," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Koskimäki, Teemu, 2023. "Targeting socioeconomic transformations to achieve global sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    8. Drews, Stefan & Savin, Ivan & van den Bergh, Jeroen, 2024. "A Global Survey of Scientific Consensus and Controversy on Instruments of Climate Policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    9. García-García, Pablo & Buendía, Luis & Carpintero, Óscar, 2022. "Welfare regimes as enablers of just energy transitions: Revisiting and testing the hypothesis of synergy for Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Maria Jose Murcia & Pilar Acosta, 2023. "Accounting for Plural Cognitive Framings of Growth and Sustainability: Rethinking Management Education in Latin America," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 299-313, June.
    11. Ruault, Jean-François & Dupré la Tour, Alice & Evette, André & Allain, Sandrine & Callois, Jean-Marc, 2022. "A biodiversity-employment framework to protect biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    12. Michael Jakob & William F. Lamb & Jan Christoph Steckel & Christian Flachsland & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2020. "Understanding different perspectives on economic growth and climate policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.

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