Fish or Steel: Experimental Evidence on Preferences over Investment Attraction

• In Event: Domestic Politics of International Political Economy

Abstract

In today’s emerging economies, rapid economic growth contributes to the improvement of living standards of large parts of the population, but is also putting severe pressures on the countries’ natural resources and environment at the same time. As these countries continue to grow, how do citizens in these countries want their political leaders to balance between economic development and environmental protection. Existing studies show that public opinion is key to the implementation of policy responses to address environmental challenges. In particular, without a critical mass of the population signaling their concern about the environment, policymakers are less likely to provide sound environmental policy responses. In this study, we examine how environmental implications relative to other aspects of an investment proposal matter for individuals’ investment policy preferences. To study the salience of environmental aspects in individuals’ economic decision-making we employ a conjoint survey experiment conducted as part of two nationally representative surveys of Vietnamese citizens. Our results show that environmental harm associated with the investment significantly reduces public support for the investment, even if the same investment generates considerable economic benefits to the respondent’s local area. What is striking is that the salience of environmental considerations cuts across social cleavages in Vietnam suggesting a strong public consensus in favor of the environment.

Authors

• Quynh Nguyen, Australian National University

• Edmund J. Malesky, Duke University