| Description: |
We test the acceptability of government countermeasures during the energy crisis in two countries, the United Kingdom and France (Ntotal = 4600). We first assess people's support for four energy policy scenarios based on real-world countermeasures, varying in policy instrument (energy subsidy or cash transfer) and policy target (universal or targeted towards vulnerable households). We find that citizens prefer energy subsidies to cash transfers, and especially universal energy subsidies, despite their negative social and environmental impacts. We show that this preference for universal energy subsidies is partly due to widespread misperceptions about the cost, social impact, and environmental impact of this policy. Correcting these misperceptions lowers support for universal energy subsidies in the UK and increases relative support for the three other policies in France. Finally, we show that citizens misperceive the effectiveness of targeted cash transfers, a policy that is socially fairer and more environmentally-friendly than universal subsidies. Correcting this misperception increases support for targeted cash transfers in the UK but not in France. |