Climate change and individual behavior

Konferenzbeitrag

This paper studies the causal effect of providing information about climate change on individuals' willingness to pay to offset carbon emissions in a randomized control trial. Receiving truthful information about ways to reduce CO2 emissions increases individuals' willingness to pay for CO2 offsetting relative to the control group. Individuals receiving information about the behavior of peers react similarly to those receiving information about scientific research. Indi-viduals' responses vary depending on their socio-demographic characteristics and also along a rich set of prior beliefs and concerns regarding climate change. In a follow-up survey, we study the endogenous information acquisition of survey participants and show that individuals choose information that aligns with their views. Individuals who choose to receive information about climate change have a higher willingness to pay for CO2 offsets.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2021: Climate Economics

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Household Behavior: General ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
• Subject: Climate change ; information treatment ; willingness to pay ; CO2 compensation ; information acquisition

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): René Bernard ; Panagiota Tzamourani ; Michael Weber
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
• (where): Kiel, Hamburg
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/249768
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET