Inequality, Polarization, and Climate Change

• In Event: Policy Attitudes

Abstract

In efforts to mitigate global climate change, reducing carbon emissions requires international cooperation and a consensus between nation states. Like all global crises of this century, collective action to mitigate climate change must reckon with burgeoning levels of wealth inequality (both between and within countries.) In the United States, income inequality has increased steeply over the past half century, with most of this increase attributed to the disproportional gains made by those at the very top of the income distribution. Meanwhile, political polarization in the US has increased significantly, such that those identifying as either Republicans and Democrats exhibit growing dislike for individuals identifying with the opposite party. As such, it is increasingly important to consider the effects of economic inequality and polarization on the ability and willingness of individual actors to cooperate in tackling social problems that feature collective-risk -- akin to the predicament posed by global climate change. Using a behavioral experiment this paper assesses the interaction between inequality and polarization in an attempt to better understand how both growing inequality and polarization operate to ease and constrain our ability to respond to climate change, and collective action problems in general. Our findings shed light on how polarization can exacerbate the challenges associated with addressing climate change, while simultaneously blunting the effects of inequality.

Author

• William (Zev) Berger, University of Arizona