Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics
No 856: The impact of politicized and costly climate policies on trust in scientific information and policy support
Fredrik Carlsson (), Mitesh Kataria () and Elina Lampi ()
Additional contact information
Fredrik Carlsson: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden
Mitesh Kataria: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden
Elina Lampi: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden
Abstract: We investigate how politicization and the financial cost of climate policies influence public trust in scientific information about climate change. We find that citizens' trust in science-based information on climate is influenced by its political context. When climate policy is associated with a political affiliation, trust in the scientific information decreases, independent of the political party supporting the policy. However, there is no effect on policy support on political endorsement. Varying the financial cost of the policy to induce cognitive dissonance had no significant effect on trust in the scientific information; instead, as expected, higher cost substantially reduced policy support.
Keywords: Experiment; climate change; scientific information; political parties; motivated beliefs
Language: English
25 pages, August 26, 2025
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