Malleable Preferences and the Normative Desirability of Demand‐Side Solutions to Climate Change

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Highlights the need to consider malleable preferences in climate-economic modeling and welfare analysis.

🏛政策担当者:Suggests that demand-side policies can be normatively justified even if they alter preferences, as preferences are not fixed.

ABSTRACT Demand‐side solutions to climate change have been ascribed significant mitigation potential, but their uptake remains limited, often due to normative concerns about individual welfare when conceptualized as preference satisfaction. Here, we address the normative desirability of demand‐side mitigation by reviewing work that raises questions about key assumptions underlying standard welfare analysis and their normative implications. Departing from the assumption that observed behavior reliably reflects individuals' underlying fixed preferences and their hedonic well‐being, we show how preferences are context‐sensitive, constructed, and endogenous to environments. Drawing on novel decision‐making frameworks better equipped for sustainable transformation, we argue that conceptualizing preference as malleable is crucial for the broader adoption of demand‐side solutions and their embedding into sustainable transformation efforts. This article is categorized under: Climate Economics > Economics of Mitigation Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Behavior Change and Responses Climate and Development > Sustainability and Human Well‐Being

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.70079first seen 2026-07-20 04:49:03