ISG: Preference mismatch for environmental policy in Indonesia

About the Seminar
We study Indonesian voters and politicians’ policy preferences over a suite of issues. We conducted concurrent surveys in advance of the 2024 Indonesian general election and, in a follow up, randomized the provision of information to candidates about voter preferences. We find that voters care about environmental issues more than politicians, and that politicians underestimate voters’ concern. Randomly providing information on voters’ preferences induced changes in politicians’ own stated policy preferences, especially on issues for which politicians initially underestimated voter support. However, information on voter preferences did not affect politicians’ willingness to support costly policy action on environmental issues, nor did it affect politicians’ vote share in the election.applying a beneficiary-centric design.
About the speaker
Dr Nicholas Kuipers is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Presidential Young Professor at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on Southeast Asia, concerning topics that span comparative politics, political economy, and public policy. His ongoing projects are especially focused on documenting the impact of institutions that govern political and bureaucratic selection in Indonesia.
Image: Army officers try to extinguish fires in peat land areas, outside Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan/Aulia Erlangga, CIFOR/Flickr
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