Environmental Impacts and Public Opinion About International Trade: Experimental Evidence from Six OECD Countries

Abstract

Do environmental implications of international trade influence public support for economic globalization? And under what conditions do environmental considerations shape individuals' trade attitudes and policy preferences? In this study, we examine the microfoundations of the trade-environment nexus based on survey-embedded experiments in six OECD countries. Our empirical findings demonstrate that environmental implications have a substantial causal effect on public opinion about international trade. Furthermore, our results indicate that citizens are similarly sensitive to both domestic and international environmental implications of trade. These findings suggest that there is probably sufficient public support for green economy policies that take into account the global rather than only national environmental impacts from trade when designing trade policies.