Abstract

The translation of citizen concerns and preferences into corresponding actions by their government is a central issue of democratic representation. We experimentally study two approaches with the potential to strengthen the pressure exerted by a concerned citizenry on their government to act about climate change. The “social norms” approach aims to influence citizen perceptions about societal levels of belief in, concern about, and willingness to act on, climate change. The “deep engagement” approach encourages deliberate reflection, cognition, and perspective taking about climate change. Participants are randomly assigned to a social norms, a deep engagement, or a placebo control condition and receive a series of weekly treatment reinforcements. We measure incentivized behaviors, attitudes, and norms after initial exposure to treatment and a month thereafter. Both interventions had pro-environment effects on behaviors and attitudes, albeit through different means: unlike the deep engagement arm, the social norms approach rendered participants more optimistic about fellow citizens’ environmentalism. Our findings suggest that it is possible to transform citizen concern about climate change into grassroots pressure for government climate policy.

Reference

Alberto Simpser (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)), “Grassroots demand for government action to mitigate climate change: Experimental evidence from Mexico”, IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse: IAST, June 14, 2024, 12:45–13:45, room Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building).