How do pocketbook and distributional concerns affect citizens’ preferences for carbon taxation?

Beiser-McGrath, Liam ORCID: 0000-0001-9745-0320 and Bernauer, Thomas (2024) How do pocketbook and distributional concerns affect citizens’ preferences for carbon taxation? Journal of Politics, 86 (2). ISSN 0022-3816

Text (Beiser-McGrath_how-do-pocketbook--accepted) - Accepted Version Repository staff only until 3 April 2025. Download (4MB) | Request a copy

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Abstract

We shed new light on a long-standing question in political science: When confronted with costly policy choices, do citizens form their preferences using material (economic) concerns or other-regarding motivations, such as the distribution of costs, and how are these moderated by political ideology? Using the case of carbon taxation, a widely advocated policy solution to climate change, we conducted survey experiments in Germany and the United States to assess the relative importance of these forms of preferences. The results show that individuals are primarily concerned with how a carbon tax would affect their individual income. There are also important cross-national differences with high-income German respondents being more receptive to redistributive policy design, especially in contrast to high-income Democrats who significantly decrease support for carbon taxation. These findings highlight how the constituencies generated by new policies can significantly alter the distribution of mass support for action on emerging societal problems.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jop/current
Additional Information:	© 2024 Southern Political Science Association
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance
JEL classification:	Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H23 - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2023 10:27
Last Modified:	22 Apr 2024 13:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/120995

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