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Climate change and individual behavior

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  • Bernard, René
  • Tzamourani, Panagiota
  • Weber, Michael

Abstract

This paper studies the causal effect of providing information about climate changeon individuals' willingness to pay to offset carbon emissions in a randomizedcontrol trial. Receiving truthful information about ways to reduce CO2 emis-sions increases individuals' willingness to pay for CO2 offsetting relative to thecontrol group. Individuals receiving information about the behavior of peersreact similarly to those receiving information about scientific research. Individ-uals' responses vary depending on their socio-demographic characteristics andalso along a rich set of prior beliefs and concerns regarding climate change. Ina follow-up survey, we study the endogenous information acquisition of surveyparticipants and show that individuals choose information that aligns with theirviews. Individuals who choose to receive information about climate changehave a higher willingness to pay for CO2 offsets.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernard, René & Tzamourani, Panagiota & Weber, Michael, 2022. "Climate change and individual behavior," Discussion Papers 01/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bubdps:012022
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    Cited by:

    1. Golin, M. & Rauh, C., 2022. "The Impact of Fear of Automation," Janeway Institute Working Papers 2229, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Schleich, Joachim & Alsheimer, Sven, 2024. "The relationship between willingness to pay and carbon footprint knowledge: Are individuals willing to pay more to offset their carbon footprint if they learn about its size and distance to the 1.5 °C," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    3. Meinerding, Christoph & Poinelli, Andrea & Schüler, Yves, 2022. "Inflation expectations and climate concern," Discussion Papers 12/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    4. Mayer, Maximilian, 2023. "Climate change concerns and information spillovers from socially-connected friends," IWH Discussion Papers 2/2023, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    5. Schleich, Joachim & Alsheimer, Sven, 2022. "How much are individuals willing to pay to offset their carbon footprint? The role of information disclosure and social norms," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S10/2022, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    6. Meinerding, Christoph & Poinelli, Andrea & Schüler, Yves, 2023. "Households’ inflation expectations and concern about climate change," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; information treatment; willingness to pay; CO2 compensation; information acquisition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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