Household Demand for Low Carbon Policies: Evidence from California

In recent years, Californians have voted on two key pieces of low carbon regulation. One introduces a carbon cap-and-trade market and the other creates a plan to build a high-speed rail system connecting the state's major cities. This provides an opportunity to examine the demand for carbon mitigation efforts. Household voting patterns are found to mirror the voting patterns by the US Congress on national carbon legislation. Political liberals and more educated voters favor such regulations while suburbanites tend to oppose such initiatives. By pricing carbon, suburban land becomes less valuable. We find that homeowner communities in suburban areas are more likely to vote against such regulation, while homeowners in the center city area are more likely to favor carbon pricing. Homeowner communities close to high-speed rail stops are also more likely to support this legislation.