The Country Opinion Survey in Grenada assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Grenada perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector,...

The Country Opinion Survey in Saint Lucia assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Saint Lucia perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private...

This study explores public opinion for reducing fossil fuel subsidies in Angola, identifies strategies that can shift public opinion, and analyzes variations in support based on respondents’ area of residency and gender. It uses data from a survey of 598 respondents and focus groups involving...

This paper studies the causal impact of female political representation on legislative behavior, social attitudes, and gender-based crime. Using a regression discontinuity design based on close mixed-gender electoral contests, we compare electorates that narrowly elected female versus male...

The current report presents findings of a research project that explored attitudes towards welfare and redistributive policies among Irish residents. Public support for the welfare state is an important foundation for democratic governments to pursue the policies needed to alleviate poverty in...

The Galápagos Islands face the challenge of conserving their biodiversity while moving toward a more sustainable tourism model. In August 2024, after 24 years without changes, the entrance fee for the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve was updated: from USD 100 to USD 200 for foreign...

The paper finds that the post-pandemic inflation surge and subsequent decline from 2021 to 2024 had no significant impact on public support for the Euro for the EA-19 and for most individual member states of the EA-19. From 2021 to 2024, net public support for the euro remained remarkably stable...

The chocolate supply chain exemplifies the social and environmental challenges within global food systems. Growing awareness of environmental impact and ethical production practices is increasingly shaping consumer choices and influencing food policy. This highlights the need for an integrated...

Migration has become a highly contentious issue across many European countries, where initiatives to regularize the status of undocumented migrants face substantial political opposition. While public attitudes toward immigration have been extensively studied, comparatively little attention has...

We examine how individuals update their views on climate change when exposed to competing advocacy or skeptical signals on social media. In a representative survey experiment of 1,633 adults in Italy, respondents were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) exposure to climate-advocacy...

Radical Right (RR) political parties have become increasingly radicalized on immigration across many developed countries. We study whether exposure to slanted (i.e., one-sided) news shifts policy views of RR voters on immigration in Austria. In an online experiment, participants received slanted...

Objective ‒ The study's primary goal is to assess the relationship between income inequalities and attitudes toward them in various categories of localities in terms of population during 1988-2019. Research design & methods ‒ The study uses data on inequalities from the cyclical survey of...

Climate change triggers anxiety in many people. Concerns about the consequences of climate change vary significantly not just by age and generation but also over time. Using German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data, this Weekly Report examines the extent to which these differences stem from...

Carbon pricing can deliver large emissions reductions, but public opposition remains a key barrier. We study how support for carbon tax-and-transfer schemes depends on policy design and information provision in a large-scale survey experiment with German respondents. Explaining the policy...

The European Green Deal has fuelled a political backlash against EU climate policies, strengthening Eurosceptic parties. This backlash reflects politically sensitive tensions inherent in the trade-offs between environmental protection, economic growth, and social inclusion. Against this...

How do non-belligerent societies view the return of large-scale conflict to Europe? Among European countries, with their different historical ties to Russia and lived experiences of conflict, this article examines how the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia-two former Yugoslav republics...

This policy brief summarises key findings from the project Hidden Barriers to Conservation-Addressing Social Acceptability to Enhance Effective Management in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, conducted by Heriot-Watt University with the support of The Rufford Foundation, in collaboration with the...

In an election, protest voters signal their discontent with the party they traditionally support in different ways. This paper examines a specific form of protest voting in which voters choose an anti-mainstream party over their true first preference, the mainstream party, as a way to signal...

We study how preferences for migration-related narratives differ between private and public contexts and how social media fuel opinion polarization. Using a German representative sample (n=1,226), we found that individuals, especially from the left and center, avoided publicly endorsing...

How does the media bias the news? And in particular, how much does it cost owners to ensure that journalists comply with their stance? We compile a unique dataset of journalists and guests appearing on French television and radio shows between 2002 and 2020 to quantify the role played by...

In the face of the 2024 European Parliament elections, the study at hand investigates the role of work, working conditions, and workers' voice for (anti-)democratic attitudes and far-right voting intentions. For this purpose, primary survey data was collected among the labour force in ten EU...

The expansion of wind power has the potential to make a major contribution to the mitigation of climate change. While wind power generates positive externalities at the global level by reducing carbon dioxide, it also generates negative externalities at the local level, such as noise pollution...

Central banks can play a key role in the change in finance needed for the green transition, but green central bank measures may also have an impact on the general public's trust in the institution. Trust, in turn, is crucial for central banks to successfully conduct monetary policy. The...

The digitalization of low-income economies has made it easier for governments to collect tax, yet many still fail to raise adequate revenues. Why would policy makers in urgent need of resources not fully leverage these new tools? I argue that governments remain constrained by public opinion:...

We examine how perceptions about the costs of carbon pricing affect policy acceptance. Using a representative sample of the German population, we conduct experiments that provide randomly selected respondents with personalized information about their costs at the current carbon price or a higher...

How does international assistance impact public attitudes towards donors in the recipient country when tied to strategic interests? European leaders increasingly highlight the strategic and transactional nature of international assistance. Yet, we still do not know much about how such shifts in...

We investigate how exposure to conflict events shapes individuals' democratic preferences, focusing on support for democracy in general and perceptions of governance within one's own country. We examine how ethnic affiliation - whether an individual belongs to an ethnic group with access to...

The paper explores public attitudes towards trade policy in the UK through a series of citizen juries. Unlike experimental survey-based approaches to trade policy preferences, this study qualitatively analyses deliberative discussions to gain insights into public perceptions, reasoning, and...