How Does an Economic Shock Affect Environmental Attitudes, Preferences and Issue Importance? Evidence from Switzerland

Abstract

How do economic shocks affect public pressure for pro-environmental political action? Theoretically, we argue to look beyond changes in environmental attitudes, and trace whether citizens’ policy preferences and the importance attached to environment-related issues change when their economic situation deteriorates. Empirically, we draw on population-representative panel data for Switzerland, combining survey measures for quasi-random Corona-related income losses, environmental attitudes and policy preferences, and an experimental assessment of issue importance. We neither find a decline of environmental policy support among economically affected individuals compared to the rest of the population, nor lower importance given to environmental relative to economic issues in voting decisions. This suggests that politicians need not fear electoral losses when pursuing environmental policies in times of economic crisis.