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Public opinion, elections, and environmental policy stringency in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Georgios Chortareas

    (King’s Business School, King’s College London
    National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)

  • Vasileios Logothetis

    (University of Ioannina)

  • Andreas A. Papandreou

    (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)

Abstract

We investigate how public opinion, along with the electoral process and government’s ideology affect the stringency of environmental policy in a subset of European Union countries. We pursue a dynamic panel data analysis and account for a set of economic, institutional, and political factors that can potentially affect policies aiming at placing a cost to behaviors that negatively impact the environment. We provide evidence that public concern for the environment, as gauged by opinion surveys, positively affects environmental policy stringency, and reveal that elections have a similar effect. We do not find evidence of partisan effects. Our results are impervious to a wide set of robustness tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgios Chortareas & Vasileios Logothetis & Andreas A. Papandreou, 2025. "Public opinion, elections, and environmental policy stringency in the European Union," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 49(2), pages 474-492, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jecfin:v:49:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s12197-025-09714-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s12197-025-09714-0
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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