Myopia and Egotropism in Environmental Policy Preferences

• In Event: Poster Session: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy 1 & Comparative Health Policy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session 1: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy

Abstract

Crafting effective policy to address long-term environmental problems such as climate change requires imposing costs in the present to prevent future crises. Yet creating support for such policies among the mass public involves overcoming two problems: myopia (heavily discounting the future) and egotropism (supporting policies only for self-interested reasons). Our study examines how individuals' willingness to support policies to resolve long-term environmental problems is shaped by the interaction of these two factors. Through a set of survey experiments, we examine how respondents' support for both climate change policy and efforts to protect the Brazilian rainforest are affected by varying the costs to the individual and the expected date of the environmental ``tipping point,'' building on the literature that has examined discounting and distributional costs in isolation. The findings hold implications not only for how to shape effective environmental policy, but also in understanding how individuals form preferences on the costs of long-term policies more broadly.

Author

• Alexander Slaski, Georgetown University