The Fukushima Accident and Policy Implications: Notes on Public Perception in Germany

Felix Richter, Malte Steenbeck (malte.steenbeck@wiso.uni-hamburg.de) and Markus Wilhelm (markus.wilhelm@wiso.uni-hamburg.de)
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Malte Steenbeck: Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg
Markus Wilhelm: Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg

No 45, Working Papers from Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg

Abstract: Major nuclear accidents as recently in Fukushima set nuclear power plant security at the top of the public agenda. Using data of the German Socio-Economic Panel we analyze the effects of the Fukushima accident and a subsequent government decision on nuclear power phase-out on several measures of subjective perception in Germany. We find that the Fukushima accident increases the probability to report greater worries about the environment. Furthermore, we find evidence for a decrease in the probability to be very worried about the security of nuclear power plants following the government's resolution on nuclear phase-out. Finally we find that the probabilities of reporting very high concerns are related to the distance between the respondents' place of residence and the nearest nuclear power station.

Keywords: Fukushima; nuclear accident; nuclear energy; nuclear phase-out; environment; subjective perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I3 N7 Q4 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2015-01-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published in Hamburg Contemporary Economic Discussions, Issue 45, 2014

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http://www.hced.uni-hamburg.de/WorkingPapers/HCED-045.pdf Second Version, 2014 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Nuclear Accidents and Policy: Notes on Public Perception (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hce:wpaper:045

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