Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning

Le Laboratoire d’économie mathématique et de microéconomie appliquée accueillera Benjamin BLUMENTHAL lors d'un séminaire de présentation de Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning le mardi 5 novembre, à 11h, en salle Maurice DESPLAS.

Benjamin BLUMENTHAL est chercheur postdoctoral à l’ETH Zurich. Il a soutenu sa thèse en 2023 (PSE & EHESS), intitulée Policymaking, Accountability, and Influence sous la direction de Thierry Verdier. Ses recherches portent sur la théorie des jeux appliquée, la théorie microéconomique et l'économie politique. Voir ses travaux en cours ici.

Benjamin Blumenthal présentera : Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning.

Abstract :

I propose a model of environmental policymaking with electoral accountability in which voters learn about politicians' policy preferences and environmental policies' appropriateness by observing past policy choices and outcomes. Compared to a benevolent policymaker benchmark, I show that reputational concerns can lead to policy distortions, as a result of the interdependence between voters' learning about implemented policies and their induced preferences over politicians: when favourable policy outcomes lead voters to prefer policy persistence, the desire to appear likely to implement voters' *interim* preferred policy can stifle the implementation of the *ex-ante* optimal environmental policy.