Alexander F. Gazmararian
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agazmararian.bsky.social
Alexander F. Gazmararian
@agazmararian.bsky.social
Social scientist studying political economy, behavior, and climate change. Prof @ University of Michigan

Research: www.alexgaz.org
Book: https://uncertainfuturesbook.com
I also recommend the Climate Solutions Lab’s excellent Syllabus Bank for climate politics & policy teaching resources: climate.watson.brown.edu/syllabus-bank
Syllabus Bank
climate.watson.brown.edu
August 16, 2025 at 6:26 PM
This article combines panel data + DiD + experiments to provide new causal evidence on how life experiences shape time horizons and climate policy support.

You can read it here (open access): link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Valuing the Future: Changing Time Horizons and Policy Preferences - Political Behavior
The short time horizons of citizens are a prominent explanation for why governments fail to tackle significant long-term public policy problems. Evidence for the influence of time horizons is mixed, c...
link.springer.com
July 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I ran falsification tests to rule out alternative explanations (i.e., risk preferences, altruism).

Then I conducted two experiments: prompting people to think about their kids increased their future focus, which in turn boosted support for climate policy.
July 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I analyze a 9,500-person panel surveyed 3 times over 6 years.

With a difference-in-differences + panel matching approach, I find:

→ New parents become more supportive of climate policy than their otherwise similar peers.
July 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
It’s challenging to study how time horizons affect policy views because how much we value the future isn’t randomly assigned.

I approach this issue by leveraging a personal life event that plausibly shifts future focus: becoming a parent.
July 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Uncertain Futures, written as the IRA was finalized, cautioned about the risks of policy reversal as the political pendulum swings

uncertainfuturesbook.com
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Order Now: Amazon, Barnes & Noble (Print/eBook); Cambridge University Press (PDF) Political scientists Alexander F. Gazmararian at Princeton and Dustin Tingley at Harvard have a pathbreaking new book...
uncertainfuturesbook.com
May 23, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Thanks!
December 29, 2024 at 4:17 PM
Great paper on this:
November 26, 2024 at 8:58 PM