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Will I Pay, Do I Even Care? Inequality and Citizen Environmental Support

Fri, August 30, 11:30am to 12:00pm, Marriott, Exhibit Hall B South

Abstract

A great deal of work analyzes how income inequality between states impacts environmental
choices and quality. Investigations of within nation income inequality — a matter of much concern in recent years — is considerably sparser. While there are various ways for examining effects of such inequality, we focus on citizen demand for environmental protection. We utilize individual-level data, much of it from the World Values Survey 1981–2014 Longitudinal file, to examine how income inequality might structure willingness to pay (WTP) for additional environmental protection once preferences and income are accounted. In particular, we investigate whether these effects vary by inequality level for given places in the income distribution and explore mechanisms pertaining to political polarization and
information concerning the environment. Results for our full sample show that greater inequality is generally associated with higher WTP, indicating more dissatisfaction with the status quo, everything else equal. However, for countries where it is relevant, integrating polarization is crucial for assessing inequality, as more inequality in countries with multiparty competition dissuades citizens from wanting to
give government more money for the environment, and polarization strongly effects WTP negatively.

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