American Economic Review Vol. 115 No. 4 2025

Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes toward Climate Policies

Antoine Dechezleprêtre¹; Adrien Fabre²; Tobias Kruse¹; Bluebery Planterose³; Ana Sanchez Chico⁴; Stefanie Stantcheva⁵

¹ LSE and OECD () · ² CNRS and CIRED () · ³ PSE () · ⁴ Analysis Group, Inc () · ⁵ Harvard, CEPR, and NBER ()

Abstract

This paper explores global perceptions and understanding of climate change and policies, examining factors that influence support for climate action and the impact of different types of information. We conduct large-scale surveys with 40,000 respondents from 20 countries, providing new international data on attitudes toward climate change and respondents’ socioeconomic backgrounds and lifestyles. We identify three key perceptions affecting policy support: perceived effectiveness of policies in reducing emissions, their impact on low-income households, and their effect on respondents’ households (self-interest). Educational videos clarifying policy mechanisms increase support for climate policies; those merely highlighting climate change’s impacts do not.

DOI

10.1257/aer.20230501

Volume

115

Issue

4

Pages

1258-1300

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓