Abstract
"Concern about climate change does not translate unconditionally into support for policy action, and some citizens are skeptical that (costly) public policies will address climate change effectively. I argue that risks to policy performance at the country level attenuate the link between climate change concern and support for policy action. Using a large sample of public opinion data from residents in 23 (mostly) European countries and both country and respondent- level estimates of policy performance risk, I demonstrate that the link between climate change concern and support for fossil fuel taxation is weaker for citizens in countries where policy performance is threatened. This result holds regardless of whether risk is operationalized as governance or economic risk. I discuss the need to overcome climate change policy skepticism in contexts with stronger policy performance risk profiles."
Highlights
Due to the magnitude of the problem, policy that is sufficiently ambitious to slow the rate of climate change and reduce its harmful effects entails sacrifices for all citizens
Model 1 shows the relationship between climate change concern and support for fossil fuel taxation
The positive, statistically significant relationship between climate change concern and the dependent variable persists in these models, as it does throughout all subsequent models
Summary
Due to the magnitude of the problem, policy that is sufficiently ambitious to slow the rate of climate change and reduce its harmful effects entails sacrifices for all citizens. I survey the policy failure literature and propose a model of support for fossil fuel taxation based jointly on climate change concerns and contextual factors that determine levels of governance and economic policy performance risk. Factors at both the formulation and implementation stages of the policy cycle can determine policy performance (Bovens and ’t Hart, 2016; Howlett, 2012; Peters, 2015), and I develop a governance policy risk index built from national-level estimates of regulatory red tape, patronage recruitment, and (a lack of) government transparency. This study adds value by identifying contextual factors relevant to the performance of climate policy and linking them with citizen support for a flagship climate change mitigation policy
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