| 1. |
- Matti, Simon, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
Are fee-and-dividend schemes the savior of environmental taxation? Analyses of how different revenue use alternatives affect public support for Sweden's air passenger tax
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Environmental Science & Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 132, s. 181-189
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article studies if, how, and why different revenue uses affect public attitudes to environmental taxation. More specifically, using a large-scale (N = 4292) randomized survey experiment with a 2 x 3 factorial design, the article analyses how attitudes towards a proposed increase in the current air passenger tax in Sweden are altered when combining a tax increase with three different suggestions for revenue use. The increasingly popular fee-and-dividend solution, where revenues are distributed back to the public, thus decreasing negative distribu-tive tax effects, is compared with two additional revenue uses: unspecified government spending on welfare services, and re-investment of revenues into aviation biofuels. Our results show that, although some of the commonly used independent variables such as climate concern, personal norms and political-ideological orientation are significant in determining policy attitudes, varying both tax level and revenue use also tangibly affects how a policy proposal is received. Interestingly, however, the fee-and-dividend approach does not yield the most positive policy attitudes. Rather, directing the revenues to fund an increased use of biofuels for aviation is the alternative that most clearly drives positive attitudes to this policy, and is also the alternative that is perceived as the most effective and fair in both the high tax and the low tax alternatives.
|
|
| 2. |
- Harring, Niklas, 1979, et al.
(författare)
-
Higher education, norm development, and environmental protection
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Higher Education. - : Springer. - 0018-1560 .- 1573-174X. ; 79:2, s. 291-305
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a debate on whether higher education in the social sciences generates stronger democratic and environmental norms among students. In our study, we focus on students’ perceptions about legitimate rule in the case of environmental protection. We contribute to this debate by using a unique longitudinal data set from seven universities and university colleges in Sweden. Our results show that higher education in the social sciences does not generate stronger democratic or environmental norms, at least not in the case of environmental protection. We discuss why this is the case and refine our results further by looking at individual-level factors, such as gender and ideology.
|
|
| 3. |
- Harring, Niklas, 1979, et al.
(författare)
-
Public Support for Pro-Environmental Policy Measures: Examining the Impact of Personal Values and Ideology
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Sustainability. - Basel : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 9:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores the relationship between two major explanations of the formation of positive attitudes towards environmental policy measures. Ideological orientation and personal values have, in theory, significant overlaps in the sense that they collect general and cross-situational sentiments used to understand and evaluate a wide range of political issues. However, in the empirical literature, although they independently have been shown to have rather significant effects on pro-environmental policy attitudes, they are rarely tested together in order to explore whether they capture the same basic mechanisms. In this article, two data sets from Sweden are used to demonstrate both that ideological orientation and personal values independently affect pro-environmental policy support, as well as that these effects differ across different policy types.
|
|
| 4. |
- Harring, Niklas, 1979, et al.
(författare)
-
The significance of political culture, economic context and instrument type for climate policy support: a cross-national study
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Climate Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1469-3062 .- 1752-7457. ; 19:5, s. 636-650
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While many countries have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the choice of national climate policy measures demonstrates widespread variation. Although system of government, path-dependency and economic entanglements can explain a certain amount of variation in policy choice, research also points specifically towards the highly politicized nature of climate policy instruments and their sensitivity to public support as explanatory factors for cross-national differences. Previous studies hypothesize that various country-specific contextual factors determine both general preferences for environmental protection and the public’s preferences for different types of policy instruments. One suggestion is that countries’ prevailing political cultures have significant consequences for such public support. Another supposition is that, since countries differ in their economic dependency on climate detrimental industry such as fossil fuel production, this should be a significant factor determining both public attitudes and subsequent political decisions. This paper applies unique, original data from four countries with significant variation in (i) political-cultural contexts (Sweden and Norway vs New Zealand and Australia and (ii) economic dependency (Norway and Australia vs Sweden and New Zealand) to analyze how, and to what extent, these two contextual variables interact with, and moderate, the effect of individual-level factors on support for climate policy measures in the four countries. Furthermore, the paper explores variations in support for different types of CO2 taxes (directed towards individual consumers, industry, and fossil-fuel producers) in the four countries.
|
|
| 5. |
- Havenhand, Jonathan N., 1959, et al.
(författare)
-
Ecological and functional consequences of coastal ocean acidification : Perspectives from the Baltic-Skagerrak System
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 48:8, s. 831-854
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ocean temperatures are rising; species are shifting poleward, and pH is falling (ocean acidification, OA). We summarise current understanding of OA in the brackish Baltic-Skagerrak System, focussing on the direct, indirect and interactive effects of OA with other anthropogenic drivers on marine biogeochemistry, organisms and ecosystems. Substantial recent advances reveal a pattern of stronger responses (positive or negative) of species than ecosystems, more positive responses at lower trophic levels and strong indirect interactions in food-webs. Common emergent themes were as follows: OA drives planktonic systems toward the microbial loop, reducing energy transfer to zooplankton and fish; and nutrient/food availability ameliorates negative impacts of OA. We identify several key areas for further research, notably the need for OA-relevant biogeochemical and ecosystem models, and understanding the ecological and evolutionary capacity of Baltic-Skagerrak ecosystems to respond to OA and other anthropogenic drivers.
|
|
| 6. |
- Hoff-Elimari, Eivind, et al.
(författare)
-
Collective action problems: Disentangling possible feedback loops between government policies and the public’s value-change
- 2014
-
Ingår i: European Journal of Government and Economics. - : Universidade da Coruna. - 2254-7088. ; 3:1, s. 24-46
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Solving collective action problems, such as poverty reduction or climate change, depends on interactions between governments' and voters' preferences regarding pro-social actions. This paper examines whether the overall direction of change in pro-social public policy precedes public value-change, rather than the other way around. We examine change in the public’s pro-social values in six European countries, as measured by the European Social Survey (ESS) during 2002-2012. In these countries, we conducted an expert survey to rate governmental policy that expresses these values over the same period, thereby examining value-change in governmental policy. The chronological comparison of value-change of the public with that of respective governments suggests that changes in pro-social government policies may drive public value-change rather than vice versa. This complements previous studies focused on the opinion-policy connection. Possible political implications are discussed. The promising findings of this initial study point to the importance of conducting larger-scale future studies.
|
|
| 7. |
- Jagers, Sverker C., 1967, et al.
(författare)
-
Ecological citizenship: a driver of pro-environmental behaviour?
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Environmental Politics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0964-4016 .- 1743-8934. ; 23:3, s. 434-453
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In theory, ecological citizenship (EC) has been suggested as a driver of individual pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), providing a more stable foundation for lifestyle changes than reliance on external policy tools. The relevance of EC for explaining PEB is tested by applying data from a Swedish survey designed to capture various aspects of EC. A significant proportion of Swedes fulfil the values-based requirements of ecological citizenship, as outlined in EC-theory. Furthermore, individuals who think along the lines of EC are more likely than others to behave in an environmentally friendly manner in their day-to-day activities. Certain aspects of EC are more important for PEB than others, which implies the need for further theoretical development of EC theory.
|
|
| 8. |
- Jagers, Sverker C., 1967, et al.
(författare)
-
Environmental management from left to right – on ideology, policy-specific beliefs and pro-environmental policy support.
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0964-0568 .- 1360-0559. ; 61:1, s. 86-104
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to growing environmental challenges, the demand for effective management through pro-environmental policy measures is increasing. The effectiveness is, however, largely determined by the degree to which the policy measures are supported by the actors affected by them. A consistent finding in the literature is that ideology (or subjective positioning on the left–right dimension) affects environmental policy support, with left-leaning individuals being more pro-environmental. A major caveat with previous research is that it seldom makes a distinction between different kinds of policies. Therefore, we are concerned with investigating how different ideological positions affect attitudes towards different forms of environmental protection. Using unique survey data, we show that ideology is related to conceptions about the fairness and effectiveness of different policy tools, which in turn steer preferences. In that sense, this paper makes the discussion on the effects of ideological position on pro-environmental policy support more nuanced.
|
|
| 9. |
- Jagers, Sverker C., 1967, et al.
(författare)
-
The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Climate Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1469-3062 .- 1752-7457. ; 19:2, s. 147-160
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims at better understanding how, and to what extent, perceptions of a policy instrument's distributional effects impact on policy support, focusing on the case of CO2 taxes on petrol in Sweden. Through a large-scale (N = 5000) randomized survey experiment with a 2 x 3 factorial design, the extent to which perceptions of fairness determine attitudes to a suggested increase of the Swedish CO2 tax is explored. Furthermore, the study considers whether these effects change with the level of the suggested tax increase, as well as whether negative sentiments can be alleviated by combining it with a compensatory measure in the shape of a simultaneous income tax cut financed by the revenues from the tax increase. The results show that a higher tax increase is both viewed as more unfair and enjoys weaker support. Furthermore, compensatory measures can be a powerful policy design tool to increase perceptions of the policy as fair, but the effect of compensation on policy support is conditioned by the individual's left-right ideological position. Whereas people self-identifying to the right react favourably to compensatory measures, people self-identifying to the left become less supportive of a tax increase when combined with a simultaneous cut in income taxes. Key policy insights Perceptions of fairness are highly important for explaining public support for climate policy tools, specifically CO2 taxes. Compensatory measures can be a powerful policy design tool to increase perceptions of the policy as less unfair. However, the effect of compensatory measures on policy support is conditioned by ideological position, and only successful among people to the ideological right. In contexts dominated by right-wing ideals, a combination of a tax and a compensatory scheme may be a successful route forward towards increased climate policy support. In left-oriented contexts the results imply that a CO2 tax without compensation seems more likely to increase support.
|
|
| 10. |
- Jagers, Sverker, et al.
(författare)
-
Societal causes of, and responses to, ocean acidification
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 48:8, s. 816-830
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Major climate and ecological changes affect the world's oceans leading to a number of responses including increasing water temperatures, changing weather patterns, shrinking ice-sheets, temperature-driven shifts in marine species ranges, biodiversity loss and bleaching of coral reefs. In addition, ocean pH is falling, a process known as ocean acidification (OA). The root cause of OA lies in human policies and behaviours driving society's dependence on fossil fuels, resulting in elevated CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. In this review, we detail the state of knowledge of the causes of, and potential responses to, OA with particular focus on Swedish coastal seas. We also discuss present knowledge gaps and implementation needs.
|
|
