IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp15562.html

Some searches may not work properly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

   My bibliography  Save this paper

Climate Change Salience, Economic Insecurity, and Support for Mitigation Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Johnston, David W.

    (Monash University)

  • Knott, Rachel

    (Monash University)

  • Mendolia, Silvia

    (University of Torino)

Abstract

Many people remain opposed to climate change mitigation policies. This opposition is an obstacle to policy action and, therefore, important to understand. We explore how unusually high temperatures (heat waves), which observably increase the salience of climate change-related issues, affect people's support for policies to reduce emissions. We additionally test whether this relationship is moderated by economic status and employment conditions. By linking local temperature observations to attitudes collected in large U.K. surveys, we find that unusually hot weather caused significant reductions in support in 2012-2013, a high-unemployment period, but not in 2018-2019, a low-unemployment period. The negative effects in 2012-2013 were driven by people working in carbon-intensive industries and people who felt economically insecure. Overall, these findings suggest that economically vulnerable groups can respond negatively to the promotion of climate change mitigation policies, but that this negativity is mutable.

Suggested Citation

  • Johnston, David W. & Knott, Rachel & Mendolia, Silvia, 2022. "Climate Change Salience, Economic Insecurity, and Support for Mitigation Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 15562, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15562
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp15562.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lefevre, Carmen E. & Bruine de Bruin, Wändi & Taylor, Andrea L. & Dessai, Suraje & Kovats, Sari & Fischhoff, Baruch, 2015. "Heat protection behaviors and positive affect about heat during the 2013 heat wave in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 282-289.
    2. Herrnstadt, Evan & Muehlegger, Erich, 2014. "Weather, salience of climate change and congressional voting," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 435-448.
    3. Nowakowski, Adam & Oswald. Andrew J, 2020. "Do Europeans Care about Climate Change? An Illustration of the Importance of Data on Human Feelings," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1303, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. W. Reed Walker, 2011. "Environmental Regulation and Labor Reallocation: Evidence from the Clean Air Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 442-447, May.
    5. Dai, Jing & Kesternich, Martin & Löschel, Andreas & Ziegler, Andreas, 2015. "Extreme weather experiences and climate change beliefs in China: An econometric analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 310-321.
    6. Yip, Chi Man, 2018. "On the labor market consequences of environmental taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 136-152.
    7. Ho, Thong Quoc & Nie, Zihan & Alpizar, Francisco & Carlsson, Fredrik & Nam, Pham Khanh, 2022. "Celebrity endorsement in promoting pro-environmental behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 68-86.
    8. Marie Connolly, 2013. "Some Like It Mild and Not Too Wet: The Influence of Weather on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 457-473, April.
    9. Matthew J. Hornsey & Emily A. Harris & Paul G. Bain & Kelly S. Fielding, 2016. "Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(6), pages 622-626, June.
    10. Yamazaki, Akio, 2017. "Jobs and climate policy: Evidence from British Columbia's revenue-neutral carbon tax," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 197-216.
    11. Umit, Resul & Schaffer, Lena Maria, 2020. "Attitudes towards carbon taxes across Europe: The role of perceived uncertainty and self-interest," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    12. Nowakowski, Adam & Oswald, Andrew J, 2020. "Do Europeans Care about Climate Change? An Illustration of the Importance of Data on Human Feelings," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 510, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    13. Salil D. Benegal, 2018. "The impact of unemployment and economic risk perceptions on attitudes towards anthropogenic climate change," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(3), pages 300-311, September.
    14. Frijters, Paul & Lalji, Chitwan & Pakrashi, Debayan, 2020. "Daily weather only has small effects on wellbeing in the US," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 747-762.
    15. Darwin Choi & Zhenyu Gao & Wenxi Jiang, 2020. "Attention to Global Warming," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1112-1145.
    16. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    17. Matthew E. Kahn & Matthew J. Kotchen, 2011. "Business Cycle Effects On Concern About Climate Change: The Chilling Effect Of Recession," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 257-273.
    18. James Painter & Joshua Ettinger & Marie-Noëlle Doutreix & Nadine Strauß & Anke Wonneberger & Peter Walton, 2021. "Is it climate change? Coverage by online news sites of the 2019 European summer heatwaves in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 1-28, November.
    19. Kachi, Aya & Bernauer, Thomas & Gampfer, Robert, 2015. "Climate policy in hard times: Are the pessimists right?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 227-241.
    20. Corey Lang, 2014. "Do weather fluctuations cause people to seek information about climate change?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 291-303, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Guzmán & Cristian Pinto-Gutiérrez & María-Andrea Trujillo, 2020. "Attention to Global Warming and the Success of Environmental Initial Coin Offerings: Empirical Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Bonato, Matteo & Cepni, Oguzhan & Gupta, Rangan & Pierdzioch, Christian, 2023. "Climate risks and state-level stock market realized volatility," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Jiyu Zhao & Ning Zhang, 2023. "Environmental regulation and labor market: a bibliometric analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6095-6116, July.
    4. Sitong Yang & Shouwei Li & Xue Rui & Tianxiang Zhao, 2024. "The impact of climate risk on the asset side and liability side of the insurance industry: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-51, June.
    5. Olivier Deschenes, 2018. "Environmental regulations and labor markets," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-22, November.
    6. Andrew G. Meyer, 2022. "Do economic conditions affect climate change beliefs and support for climate action? Evidence from the US in the wake of the Great Recession," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 64-86, January.
    7. Duan, Tinghua & Li, Frank Weikai, 2024. "Climate change concerns and mortgage lending," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    8. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Managing the distributional effects of climate policies: A narrow path to a just transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    9. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2022. "Rendre acceptable la nécessaire taxation du carbone. Quelles pistes pour la France ?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 15-53.
    10. Corey Lang & John David Ryder, 2016. "The effect of tropical cyclones on climate change engagement," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 625-638, April.
    11. Guglielmo Zappalà, 2022. "Drought exposure and accuracy: Motivated reasoning in climate change beliefs," Working Papers 2022.02, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    12. Hille, Erik & Möbius, Patrick, 2019. "Do energy prices affect employment? Decomposed international evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-21.
    13. Guglielmo Zappalà, 2023. "Drought Exposure and Accuracy: Motivated Reasoning in Climate Change Beliefs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(3), pages 649-672, August.
    14. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Rethinking the choice of carbon tax and carbon trading in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Sam Crawley & Hilde Coffé & Ralph Chapman, 2022. "Climate Belief and Issue Salience: Comparing Two Dimensions of Public Opinion on Climate Change in the EU," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 307-325, July.
    17. Matterne, Ilias & Roggeman, Annelies & Verleyen, Isabelle, 2024. "The impact of environmental taxation on innovation: Evidence from Canada," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    18. Elbaum Jean-David, 2021. "The effect of a carbon tax on per capita carbon dioxide emissions: evidence from Finland," IRENE Working Papers 21-05, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    19. Wei, Xiahai & Jiang, Feng & Chen, Yu, 2023. "Who pays for environmental protection? The impact of green tax reform on labor share in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    20. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2019. "Climate policies and skill-biased employment dynamics: Evidence from EU countries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5ahh4t5kfl8nprei89ignlk5nl is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Chen, Guifu & Wei, Boyu, 2024. "Low-carbon city pilots and site selection for migrant employment: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate change; attitudes; economic insecurity; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.