Do Green Users Become Green Voters?
    Working Paper 31324
  
        
    DOI 10.3386/w31324
  
        
    Issue Date 
  
          We estimate the causal effect of the diffusion of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on the fraction of Green Party votes in federal and state elections in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Our estimates are based on instruments that induce exogenous variation in roof appropriateness to PV installation. We find that PV adoption had a strong positive effect on Green Party votes. The effect is connected to the direct engagement of households with the PV system and does not reflect reciprocity to economic gains from PV. Our estimates likely reveal changing attitudes towards environmentally friendly values after adopting PV produced by cognitive dissonance.
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      Copy CitationDiego A. Comin and Johannes Rode, "Do Green Users Become Green Voters?," NBER Working Paper 31324 (2023), https://doi.org/10.3386/w31324.
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