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ID:
149930
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Production Tax Credit (PTC) is an important policy instrument through which the federal government promotes renewable energy development in the United States. However, the efficacy of the PTC is hampered by repeated expirations and short-term extensions, and by the general uncertainty surrounding its future status. We examine the factors driving variation in public support for the extension of the PTC using a nationally representative, internet-based survey. Americans living near a coal-fired power plant are significantly more likely to support extending the PTC than are their peers who are more insulated from the externalities of burning coal. The evidence for this dynamic was strongest and most statistically significant among subjects experimentally primed to think about the adverse health effects of burning coal. Raising awareness of the public health ramifications of generating electricity from fossil fuels holds the potential to increase support for renewable energy policies among those living in proximity to coal plants, even in a highly politicized policy debate.
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| 2 |
ID:
177350
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| Summary/Abstract |
Researchers debate the viability of biofuels to address growing global energy demands and climate change. Understanding factors that maintain and build public support for government policies bolstering biofuels is critical. Using a nationally representative survey experiment, we examine the influence of competing cost arguments and spatial variation in ZIP-code level gasoline prices on Americans' support for federal tax credits to promote biofuels. We examine the influence of competing arguments about the cost implications of biofuels for consumers on support for federal tax credits, and whether such treatment effects are moderated by respondents’ political partisanship and by variation in local fuel prices. Consistent with research on loss aversion, arguments that biofuels could increase costs for consumers were more influential than arguments touting economic benefits. However, arguments that biofuels could eventually decrease fuel costs for consumers were more influential among subjects who experienced high local gasoline prices. Finally, we found evidence of a significant partisan divide in policy preferences, and evidence that partisanship moderates the influence both of competing cost frames and of local fuel prices on support for federal biofuels tax credits. Our results add important nuance to understanding of how economic calculations affect public support for policies to support biofuels.
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