Seminario de Investigación | “Place matters”: Environmental perceptions and support to transition policies in Latin America

Seminario de Investigación

“Place matters”: Environmental perceptions and support to transition policies in Latin America

Expositor | Matthieu Clément (Bordeaux School of Economics – Université de Bordeaux)

Despite growing evidence that territorial divides shape support for environmental policies, little is known about how these dynamics operate in Latin America. This paper tests two core hypotheses: whether residents of non-metropolitan areas exhibit stronger awareness of environmental risks due to greater exposure to localized hazards, and whether support for environmental policies is lower in peripheral regions than in metropolitan areas, as apparent in Europe. Our empirical approach is sequential. We first use LAPOP microdata from 16 Latin American countries over the period 2014–2023 to estimate the effect of place of residence on environmental perceptions and policy preferences. Then we mobilize 88 qualitative interviews conducted in secondary cities and their surroundings in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico to shed light on the mechanisms underlying spatial heterogeneity beyond simple urban-rural divides. Quantitative results show that geographical characteristics trump socioeconomic factors in explaining environmental preferences and perceptions, while challenging the expectation of systematically lower support for transition policies in non-metropolitan regions. Qualitative evidence suggests that stronger support for prioritizing environmental protection in non-metropolitan areas is rooted in localized experiences of environmental degradation and perceived policy inaction. These findings underscore the importance of accounting for spatial heterogeneity when designing environmental transition policies.

Co-autores del paper: Sébastien Carrère, Sébastien Cuenot & Eric Rougier.

Lugar | FCE-UBA | Aula Olivera