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Willingness to Pay for Voluntary Climate Action and Its Determinants: Field-Experimental Evidence

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  • Johannes Diederich
  • Timo Goeschl
Abstract
The determinants of individual, voluntary climate action (VCA) in combating climate change and its potential scale are frequently debated in public but largely underresearched. We provide estimates of the willingness to individually reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by one ton, using the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. Estimates are derived from an online field experiment with a large, highly heterogenous, and Internet-representative sample of voting-aged Germans. Jointly estimating willingness to pay (WTP), non-indifference to VCA, and prior knowledge, we uncover important determinants of preferences for VCA, such as education, the information structure among the population, and exogenous environmental conditions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Diederich & Timo Goeschl, 2014. "Willingness to Pay for Voluntary Climate Action and Its Determinants: Field-Experimental Evidence," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 57(3), pages 405-429, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:57:y:2014:i:3:p:405-429
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-013-9686-3
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; EU ETS; Field experiment; Online experiment; Public goods; Voluntary contributions; Voluntary climate action; Willingness to pay; C93; Q51; Q54;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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