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Moral Bandwidth and Environmental Concerns During a Public Health Crisis: Evidence from Germany

Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science

Julia Berazneva, Daniel Graeber, Michelle McCauley, Sabine Zinn, Peter Hans Matthews

In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 228 (2024), 106753, 10 S.

Abstract

Did the COVID-19 pandemic crowd out environmental concerns, as one might expect if ‘‘pools of worry’’ were finite or ‘‘moral bandwidth’’ was limited? We use Chancellor Angela Merkel’saddress to the German nation on 18 March 2020 as the threshold in a regression discontinuity in time (RDiT) to evaluate the effects of an increase in COVID-based economic and health concerns on the climate and environmental concerns of respondents to the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We find no evidence of crowding out – there is even some indicationthat environmental concerns increased, especially on the intensive margin – and show that this result survives various robustness checks. We also share some evidence that the treatment effects are heterogeneous: the concerns of older and more patient Germans, as well as those who report more social trust, increased relative to other groups. This is consistent with theabsence of bandwidth constraints, but other interpretations – hierarchical or complementary concerns, for example – are also possible.

Sabine Zinn

Acting Director SOEP and Division Head Survey Methodology and Management in the German Socio-Economic Panel study Department

Daniel Graeber

Research Associate in the German Socio-Economic Panel study Department



JEL-Classification: Q54;D91
Keywords: Environmental preferences, Climate change, Moral bandwidth, COVID-19, German Socio-Economic Panel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2024.106753

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