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Behavioral determinants of proclaimed support for environment protection policies

Author

Listed:
  • Kauder, Björn
  • Potrafke, Niklas
  • Ursprung, Heinrich

Abstract

Using a representative survey of German university students, we confirm that proclaimed support for environment protection policies depends on socio-cultural factors and political ideology. Unlike most related studies for other countries, we find that the environmental policy stance of German partisans does not follow the left-right cleavage. Only about 25% of the social-democratic partisans wholeheartedly support environment protection policies, whereas 50% of the green partisans, who, in Germany, also belong to the political left, do so;and when controlling for sociocultural influences, social-democratic partisans become undistinguishable from Christian conservative and market-oriented partisans. Focusing on behavioral influences, we find that some of the respondents' psychological traits are not filtered through their political ideology but directly influence their proclaimed attitudes towards environment protection policies. We identify as important behavioral determinants the locus of control and psychological traits that capture the respondents' susceptibility to making use of expressive rhetoric.

Suggested Citation

  • Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich, 2018. "Behavioral determinants of proclaimed support for environment protection policies," Munich Reprints in Economics 62845, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenar:62845
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    Cited by:

    1. Johansson, Alva & Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2022. "Intolerance predicts climate skepticism," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    2. Schubert, Christian, 2017. "Green nudges: Do they work? Are they ethical?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 329-342.
    3. Hefeker Carsten & Potrafke Niklas, 2021. "Heinrich W. Ursprung – Herausragender Ökonom, Mentor und Ratgeber," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 22(4), pages 370-374, November.
    4. Arye L. Hillman, 2021. "Heinrich Ursprung: a scholarly life," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 305-312, December.
    5. Yvonne Giesing & Björn Kauder & Lukas Mergele & Niklas Potrafke & Panu Poutvaara, 2024. "Moving Out of the Comfort Zone: How Cultural Norms Affect Attitudes toward Immigration," CESifo Working Paper Series 10985, CESifo.
    6. Kammerlander, Andreas & Schulze, Günther G., 2020. "Are Democracies Cleaner?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Liu, Yongzheng & Zhang, Xiaoge, 2023. "Environmental regulation, political incentives, and mortality in China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Rode, Martin & Sáenz de Viteri, Andrea, 2018. "Expressive attitudes to compensation: The case of globalization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 42-55.
    9. Daniel Engler & Marvin Gleue & Gunnar Gutsche & Gerrit Hornung & Sophia Möller & Sabrina Schomberg & Andreas Ziegler, 2025. "Do individuals prefer stricter supply chain laws? Empirical evidence from Germany," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202509, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    10. D’Ecclesiis, Enrico A.R. & Levi, Eugenio & Patriarca, Fabrizio, 2025. "Exploring the multifaceted relationship between environmental attitudes and political voting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    11. Lindov, Dalila, 2020. "Teachers and politics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Paula Vicente & Catarina Marques & Elizabeth Reis, 2021. "Willingness to Pay for Environmental Quality: The Effects of Pro-Environmental Behavior, Perceived Behavior Control, Environmental Activism, and Educational Level," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    13. Tim Friehe & Christian Pfeifer, 2024. "Predicting satisfaction with democracy in Germany using local economic conditions, social capital, and individual characteristics," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 335-377, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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