Yellow Vests, Pessimistic Beliefs, and Carbon Tax Aversion
- (pp. 81-110)
Abstract
Using a representative survey, we find that after the Yellow Vests movement, French people would largely reject a tax and dividend policy, i.e., a carbon tax whose revenues are redistributed uniformly to each adult. They overestimate their net monetary losses, wrongly think that the policy is regressive, and do not perceive it as environmentally effective. We show that changing people's beliefs can substantially increase support. Although significant, the effects of our informational treatments on beliefs are small. Indeed, the respondents that oppose the tax tend to discard positive information about it, which is consistent with distrust, uncertainty, or motivated reasoning.Citation
Douenne, Thomas, and Adrien Fabre. 2022. "Yellow Vests, Pessimistic Beliefs, and Carbon Tax Aversion." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14 (1): 81-110. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200092Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- H23 Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
- H31 Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
- Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
- Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy
There are no comments for this article.
Login to Comment