Climate change concerns and information spillovers from socially-connected friends

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies the role of social connections in shaping individuals' concerns about climate change. I combine granular climate data, region-level social network data and survey responses for 24 European countries in order to document large information spillovers. Individuals become more concerned about climate change when their geographically distant friends living in sociallyconnected regions have experienced large increases in temperatures since 1990. Exploring the heterogeneity of the spillover effects, I uncover that the learning via social networks plays a central role. Further, results illustrate the important role of social values and economic preferences for understanding how information spillovers affect individual concerns.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IWH Discussion Papers ; No. 2/2023

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles ; Externalities ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
• Subject: beliefs ; climate change ; information spillovers ; social networks

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mayer, Maximilian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH)
• (where): Halle (Saale)
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/268404
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET