The electoral consequences of environmental accidents: Evidence from Chernobyl

Adrian Mehic

Journal of Public Economics, 2023, vol. 225, issue C

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between environmental accidents and voting. Following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, environmentalist parties entered parliaments in several nations. This paper uses Chernobyl as a natural experiment creating variation in radioactive fallout exposure over Sweden. I match municipality-level data on cesium ground contamination with election results for the environmentalist Green Party, which was elected to parliament in 1988. After adjusting for pre-Chernobyl views on nuclear power, the results show that voters in high-fallout areas were more likely to vote for the Greens. Detailed individual-level survey data suggests that resistance to nuclear energy increased in fallout-effected areas after the accident, and that this change was driven by voters who followed local media closely.

Keywords: Chernobyl; Pollution; Voting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 Q48 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:225:y:2023:i:c:s0047272723001469

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104964

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