Political feasibility of green transition policies from the perspective of individual fiscal preferences: The case of Poland

Research background: Green transition is a challenge for EU countries as there are obstacles to its implementation. In Poland, the slow progress of green investments are mainly due to the lack of a coherent climate strategy, social scepticism towards the green transition and a negative perception of public debt. With this in mind, the study analyses the most politically feasible instruments from the perspective of Polish society and the possibility of influencing individual preferences for climate policy implementation. The analysis is noteworthy from an international perspective, particularly for countries whose economies still rely on fossil fuels, meaning they are less advanced in their green transition than the world's richest and most developed countries. Purpose of the article: This article examines social preferences regarding government fiscal measures to counteract climate change and examines the extent to which social preferences can be shaped by the information provided. The following hypotheses have been formulated: H1: Specific social preferences regarding green investment financing modes can be revealed. H2: Individual preferences regarding the trend towards the green transition and the choice of financing instruments can be influenced by the information provided to respondents characterised by profiles of negative perception of public debt and high fiscal conservatism. Methods: A survey was conducted among three representative samples, totalling 1,050 respondents from Poland. The respondents' perceptions of fiscal instruments were examined using the behavioural economics approach. The significance of the obtained results was verified using statistical analysis methods. The relationships between selected variables were also modelled using logit regression. Findings & value added: The study fills the research gap on preferences for financing the green transition depending on the information received by respondents and their individual perceptions of public debt. The conducted analysis reveals that the respondents' aversion to debt as an instrument for financing the green transition decreases thanks to the application of the framing method, despite their initially limited preference for debt. The applied experiment shows that political opposition to both green investments and public debt growth could be reduced through communication with voters.