Public support for degrowth policies and sufficiency behaviours in the United States: A discrete choice experiment

IF 6.6 2区经济学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Economics Pub Date : 2024-11-13 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108446

Dallas O'Dell , Davide Contu , Ganga Shreedhar

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Abstract

Research on degrowth and its policy proposals has rapidly expanded, despite lacking empirical evidence on public perceptions. One conceptual proposition for affluent populations is that lifestyle changes, such as undertaking sufficiency-oriented behaviours, may engender degrowth policy support. Our research empirically investigated U.S. public support for degrowth policies, its relation to sufficiency behaviours, and whether a degrowth framing influenced policy support. In a pre-registered, online discrete choice experiment (N = 1012), we elicited perceptions of four commonly advocated degrowth policies - work time reductions, downscaling fossil fuel production, universal basic services, and advertising restrictions. Analyses revealed significant support for some specification of each alternative policy, especially fossil fuel caps and universal healthcare. We also found a significant positive association between sufficiency engagement and supporting fossil fuel restrictions. However, latent class analysis suggested that the link between behaviour and policy support was less consistent for socially oriented policies, and that those who supported such policies did not engage in sufficiency most frequently. Degrowth framing only significantly influenced preferences for universal healthcare. These findings suggest an appetite for advancing eco-social policies in the United States but point to a nuanced relationship between sufficiency lifestyles and degrowth policy support.

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美国公众对经济增长政策和自给自足行为的支持：离散选择实验

尽管缺乏有关公众看法的经验证据，但有关增长退化及其政策建议的研究已迅速扩展。针对富裕人群的一个概念性命题是，生活方式的改变，如采取以自给自足为导向的行为，可能会获得降增长政策的支持。我们的研究实证调查了美国公众对降解政策的支持、其与自给自足行为的关系，以及降解框架是否会影响政策支持。在一项预先登记的在线离散选择实验（N = 1012）中，我们征询了公众对四项普遍倡导的降解政策的看法--减少工作时间、降低化石燃料生产规模、普及基本服务和广告限制。分析表明，每种替代政策的某些规格都得到了极大的支持，尤其是化石燃料上限和全民医疗保健。我们还发现，参与充足性与支持化石燃料限制之间存在明显的正相关。然而，潜类分析表明，对于社会导向型政策，行为与政策支持之间的联系并不那么一致，支持此类政策的人并不经常参与充足性活动。去增长框架只对全民医疗保健的偏好有显著影响。这些研究结果表明，美国人希望推进生态-社会政策，但同时也指出了自给自足的生活方式与脱增长政策支持之间的微妙关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Ecological Economics 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

5.70%

发文量

313

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership. Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.