Publications

• Ramírez Gallegos, R., Irigoyen , S. & Zaruma Flores, J. (2026). Universidad periférica, democracia y movilizaciones estudiantiles en el capitalismo cognitivo. Ciencia Política, 20(39), 149–192. https://doi.org/10.15446/cp.v20n39.117212 

Universidad periférica, democracia y movilizaciones estudiantiles en el capitalismo cognitivo | Ciencia Política 

• Irigoyen, S. (2023). Bienestar subjetivo e influencia mediática: De terminantes de confianza institucional en América Latina. Revista Tlatelolco, 2(1). https://puedjs.unam.mx/revista_tlatelolco/bienestar-subjetivo-e-influencia-mediatica-determinantes-de-confianza-institucional-en-america-latina/ 

Book Chapters

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Working paper  

 (Available here)

In Gov we Trust : Are Trust and Political Ideology Important Factors of Public Acceptance for Environmental Policies?

Catherine Benjamina, Sebastian Irigoyenb, David Mascletc Fabio Padovanod

January 2023

Abstract. 

Several environmental policies are efficient in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However these policies remain still very unpopular among the public and climate issues often provide ideal targets for populists who frame these issues as elite matters. In this current paper we attempt to answer the following question : are environmental issues a matter of elites? We conjecture that this is not necessarily the case but that there exists several factors that may refrain the poorest and less educated individuals from accepting environmental policies. The first explanation relies on the household’s budget constraint and the fact that higher socio-occupational categories are in a better financial position to accept costly environmental policies. This explanation relates to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that stipulates that individuals must have fulfilled lower needs before addressing higher levels of needs such as environmental issues. The second explanation is that higher socio-occupational categories are better educated and that education may affect support of environmental policies indirectly by reducing ignorance and mistrust, which constitute key barriers to public acceptance of environmental policies. We ran an empirical analysis based on the data from the European Social Survey (2016). We find that higher educated and income individuals are more likely to favor most of environmental policies, suggesting that educational background play both a direct and an indirect role. We also find that both mistrust in institutions and right wing populism, as proxies of skepticism constitute important barriers to most of environmental policies. More surprisingly left wing populism has no negative impact on support for public policies. A possible reason behind this finding is that on average voters of left wing populist parties are on average better educated and thus would suffer less from ignorance of environmental issues.

Keywords: Public support, Environmental policies, trust, populism

JEL Codes Q50; H11 H12 D02 D12

Presented in:    

• AFSE  2023  Sciencie Po (Paris)  

• Workshop   EDGE  Université de Rennes 1  2023

Working paper

“State intervention or individual responsibility? Determinants of environmental actions according to welfare regimes and political ideologies” 

Link here: State intervention or individual responsibility? Determinants of environmental actions according to welfare regimes and political ideologies - Archive ouverte HAL 

 Abstract

This article sheds new light on how welfare regimes and political affiliation influence the willingness to protect the environment, considering a country group perspective, a temporal and individual dimension simultaneously. Governmental and non-governmental aspects of environmental action are examined to determine whether they complement or substitute for each other. The main findings indicate that environmental action varies across welfare state regimes and political affiliations. Protectionist countries are more likely to take interventionist action for environmental protection than liberal regimes, while liberal nations are more likely to support non-governmental initiatives. In right-wing government trends, people express less approval for environmental policies but advocate more climatic protests. Environmental programs find greater acceptance when incumbent governments are left-leaning. Left-wing partisans favor environmental initiatives more than those on the right-wing. Countries with greater inequality and higher levels of corruption express a lower intention to pay taxes but express a greater willingness to protest to preserve the environment.

Keywords: Environmental Concern; Pro-environmental policy attitudes; Welfare State Regime; Protectionism; Political affiliation; International Social Survey Programme

JEL Classification: D31, H23, P48, Q5, Q58,

Presented in:   

• 10th FAERE Annual Conference 2023 in  Montpellier University

Research in progress:

• With Gilles Grolleau, Naoufel Mzoughi, and Christoph Weber: “Green or Greener? Do Positional Concerns Affect Environment- and Energy-related Preferences?” (In progress)

• With Ramírez Gallegos R.: “Ideological Dynamics within the Mexican Academic Elite: The Role of Social Sciences and Humanities” (Available upon request)

• With Ramírez Gallegos R. & Arenas-Díaz G.: “Trust in Rule-of-Law Institutions and Support for Taxing the Rich in Unequal Democracies: Evidence from Latin America”  (Available upon request)