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From Green Users to Green Voters

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  • Diego Comin
  • Johannes Rode

Abstract

We study the effect of the diffusion of photovoltaic (PV) systems on the fraction of votes obtained by the German Green Party in federal elections. Using both regional and household survey data, we show that households that adopted PV systems became more supportive of the Green Party. We estimate that the adoption of domestic PV systems led to 25 percent of the increment in green votes between 1998 and 2009. Our results are robust to instrumentation using regional variation in solar radiation and past experience adopting non-green technologies. We conjecture that these results are driven by cognitive dissonance.

Suggested Citation

  • Diego Comin & Johannes Rode, 2013. "From Green Users to Green Voters," NBER Working Papers 19219, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19219
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Vona, 2019. "Job losses and political acceptability of climate policies: why the ‘job-killing’ argument is so persistent and how to overturn it," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 524-532, April.
    2. Jing Liang & Pengfei Liu & Yueming Qiu & Yi David Wang & Bo Xing, 2020. "Time-of-Use Electricity Pricing and Residential Low-carbon Energy Technology Adoption," The Energy Journal, , vol. 41(3), pages 1-38, May.
    3. Stefan Lamp, 2023. "Sunspots That Matter: The Effect of Weather on Solar Technology Adoption," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(4), pages 1179-1219, April.
    4. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "An Empirical Study of the Determinants of Green Party Voting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 306-318.
    5. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Andrea La Nauze, 2023. "Motivation Crowding in Peer Effects: The Effect of Solar Subsidies on Green Power Purchases," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1465-1480, November.
    7. De Groote, Olivier & Gautier, Axel & Verboven, Frank, 2024. "The political economy of financing climate policy — Evidence from the solar PV subsidy programs," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7upb3pbvdn8fbq3fscr7otbg9t is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Rode, Johannes & Müller, Sven, 2020. "I Spot, I Adopt! Peer Effects and Visibility in Solar Photovoltaic System Adoption of Households," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 119280, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. Lorenzo Cerda Planas, 2014. "Moving to Greener Societies: Moral Motivation and Green Behaviour," Post-Print halshs-01018651, HAL.
    11. Wilhelm, Matthias & Buchheim, Lukas & Watzinger, Martin, 2016. "Investment in Photovoltaics and Job Creation: Evidence from a Billion Dollar Program," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145551, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Lorenzo Cerda Planas, 2014. "Moving to Greener Societies: Moral Motivation and Green Behaviour," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01018651, HAL.
    13. Graham Beattie & Yi Han & Andrea La Nauze, 2019. "Conservation Spillovers: The Effect of Rooftop Solar on Climate Change Beliefs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1425-1451, November.
    14. Johannes Rode & Sven Müller, 2016. "Spatio-temporal variation in peer effects - The case of rooftop photovoltaic systems in Germany," ERSA conference papers ersa16p579, European Regional Science Association.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Lorenzo Cerda Planas, 2018. "Moving Toward Greener Societies: Moral Motivation and Green Behaviour," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(4), pages 835-860, August.
    17. Buchheim, Lukas & Watzinger, Martin & Wilhelm, Matthias, 2020. "Job creation in tight and slack labor markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 126-143.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7upb3pbvdn8fbq3fscr7otbg9t is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Francesco Vona, 2018. "Job losses and the political acceptability of climate policies : an amplified collective action problem," Post-Print hal-03458275, HAL.
    20. Germeshausen, Robert & Heim, Sven & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2021. "Support for renewable energy: The case of wind power," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-074, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    21. Lorenzo Cerda Planas, 2014. "Moving to Greener Societies: Moral Motivation and Green Behaviour," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14035, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    22. Francesco Vona, 2018. "Job losses and the political acceptability of climate policies : an amplified collective action problem," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03458275, HAL.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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