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
69 Pages Posted: 18 May 2022 Last revised: 29 May 2022
There are 2 versions of this paper
Climate Change and Individual Behavior
Climate Change and Individual Behavior
Date Written: May 15, 2022
Abstract
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 voluntary CO2 offsetting relative to the control group. Individuals’ responses vary depending on their sociodemographic 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