Journal
ECONOMIC INQUIRY
Volume 51, Issue 2, Pages 1640-1650Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2012.00462.x
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Funding
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [846358] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Over the last 5 years, the U.S. Congress has voted on several pieces of legislation intended to sharply reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Given that climate change is a world public bad, standard economic logic would predict that the United States would free ride and wait for other nations to reduce their emissions. Within the Congress, there are clear patterns to who votes in favor of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents a political economy analysis of the determinants of pro-green votes on such legislation. Conservatives consistently vote against such legislation. Controlling for a representative's ideology, representatives from richer districts and districts with a lower per-capita carbon dioxide footprint are more likely to vote in favor of climate change mitigation legislation. Representatives from districts where industrial emissions represent a larger share of greenhouse gas emissions are more likely to vote no.
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