Green Governments Arxiv:2012.09906V2 [Econ.GN]
Green governments∗ Niklas Potrafke† Kaspar Wüthrich‡ September 7, 2021 Abstract We examine how Green governments influence macroeconomic, ed- ucation, and environmental outcomes. We exploit that the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan gave rise to an unanticipated change in gov- ernment in the German state Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2011. Using the synthetic control method, we find no evidence that the Green govern- ment influenced macroeconomic outcomes. Inclusive education policies caused comprehensive schools to become larger. The results do not sug- gest that the Green government influenced CO2 emissions or increased renewable energy usage overall. The share of wind power usage even de- creased. Intra-ecological conflicts prevented the Green government from implementing drastic changes in environmental policies. Keywords: Climate change; Green parties; Partisan politics; Fukushima nuclear disaster; Energy and environmental policies; Renewable ener- gies; Macroeconomic performance; Comprehensive schools JEL codes: C33; D72; E65; H70; I21; Q48; Q58 ∗First version: December 3, 2020. We are grateful to Zareh Asatryan, Stefan Bauern- schuster, Christian Bjørnskov, Frank Bohn, Albrecht Bohne, Judson Boomhower, Gordon Dahl, Luisa Dörr, Axel Dreher, Ottmar Edenhofer, Oliver Falck, Clemens Fuest, Sebastian Garmann, Kai Gehring, Robert Germeshausen, Klaus Gründler, Jerg Gutmann, Carsten Hefeker, Friedrich Heinemann, Matthias Kalkuhl, Björn Kauder, Nicolas Koch, Manuela Krause, Tommy Krieger, Jana Lippelt, Markus Ludwig, Mathias Mier, Andreas Peichl, Karen Pittel, Rick von der Ploeg, Felix Rösel, Fabian Ruthardt, Jeff Shrader, Guido Schw- erdt, Edson Severini, Ulrich Wagner, Timo Wollmershäuser, Larissa Zierow, Katharina Zigova and the participants of the 2020 Silvaplana Political Economy Workshop, the CE- arXiv:2012.09906v3 [econ.GN] 3 Sep 2021 Sifo Public Economics Conference 2020, the European Public Choice Society 2021, the Mannheim Conference on Energy and the Environment 2021, and seminars at the ZEW Mannheim, the MCC Berlin and the ifo Institute Munich for comments.
[Show full text]