Author(s)
Peter Andre
Teodora Boneva
Felix Chopra
Armin Falk

We document individual willingness to fight climate change and its behavioral determinants in a large representative sample of US adults. Willingness to fight climate change - as measured through an incentivized donation decision - is highly heterogeneous across the population. Individual beliefs about social norms, economic preferences such as patience and altruism, as well as universal moral values positively predict climate preferences. Moreover, we document systematic misperceptions of prevalent social norms. Respondents vastly underestimate the prevalence of climate- friendly behaviors and norms among their fellow citizens. Providing respondents with correct information causally raises individual willingness to fight climate change as well as individual support for climate policies. The effects are strongest for individuals who are skeptical about the existence and threat of global warming.

Publication Type
Working Paper
File Description
First version, July 1, 2021
JEL Codes
D64: Altruism; Philanthropy
D91: Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
Q51: Environmental Economics: Valuation of Environmental Effects
Keywords
climate change
climate behavior
climate policies
social norms
economic preferences
moral values
beliefs
survey experiments