Green Governments

Niklas Potrafke and Kaspar Wüthrich

No 8726, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We examine how Green governments influence environmental, macroeconomic, and education outcomes. We exploit that the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan gave rise to an unanticipated change in government in the German state Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2011. Using the synthetic control method, we find no evidence that the Green government influenced CO2 emissions or increased renewable energy usage overall. The share of wind power usage even decreased. Intra-ecological conflicts prevented the Green government from implementing drastic changes in environmental policies. The results do not suggest that the Green government influenced macroeconomic outcomes. Inclusive education policies caused comprehensive schools to become larger.

Keywords: climate change; Green parties; partisan politics; Fukushima nuclear disaster; energy and environmental policies; renewable energies; macroeconomic performance; comprehensive schools. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 D72 E65 H70 I21 Q48 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-reg
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Working Paper: Green governments (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8726

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