Is environmentalism a luxury good?
A working paper by Institute of the Environment professor Matt Kahn examines the relationship between unemployment and concern for the environment.
From the study’s abstract:
[W]e find that an increase in a state’s unemployment rate decreases Google searches for “global warming” and increases searches for “unemployment,” and that the effect differs according to a state’s political ideology. From national surveys, we find that an increase in a state’s unemployment rate is associated with a decrease in the probability that residents think global warming is happening and reduced support for the U.S to target policies intended to mitigate global warming. Finally, in California, we find that an increase in a county’s unemployment rate is associated with a significant decrease in county residents choosing the environment as the most important policy issue.
To read the full article about the paper in The New York Times blog Economix by Catherine Rampell click here.
Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010
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