Public response to heterogeneous environmental policies: scenario-based experiments from interest appeal, implementation costs, and commitment mechanism
Liping Wang, Panpan Gao, Chuang Li
Abstract
Under the background of “carbon peak and carbon neutrality,” the development of public low-carbon behavior is an important guarantee for environmental improvement. The in-depth study of public response mechanism to environmental policies could effectively promote the green transformation of public lifestyle. This paper explores public response to heterogeneous environmental policies through scenario-based experiments, and uses multiple regression analysis to examine factors and mechanism that influence public response. The results show that different policy guidance, interest appeal, implementation cost, and commitment mechanism could affect public response to policies, and these effects also differ among individuals with different environmental responsibility, policy awareness, time preference, and peer influence. This study portrays the dynamic change in public attitudes toward environmental policies from both policy perspective and public perspective. It also provides theoretical basis for improving public motivation to environmental policies and enhancing the effective interface between environmental policies and green behavior.