Climate Change and Individual Behavior
Chicago Booth Research Paper No. 22-13
University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics Working Paper No. 2022-66
79 Pages Posted: 18 May 2022 Last revised: 24 Sep 2023
There are 2 versions of this paper
Climate Change and Individual Behavior
Climate Change and Individual Behavior
Date Written: September 22, 2023
Abstract
We study the causal effect of providing information about climate change on individuals’ willingness to pay to offset carbon emissions in a survey experiment. Receiving truthful information about ways to reduce CO2 emissions increases individuals’ willingness to pay for voluntary CO2 offsetting by 50% relative to the control group. Individuals’ responses vary with socio-demographic characteristics and 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 individuals choose information that aligns with their views.
Keywords: Climate change, information treatment, willingness to pay, CO2 compensation, information acquisition.
JEL Classification: D10, D83, D91, Q54
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation