Survey of Economists on the Energy Act
- Surveys
- KOF Bulletin
In collaboration with Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRF, KOF has surveyed Swiss-based research economists regarding their opinions on the new Energy Act, which will be put to the vote on 21 May. The majority of the respondents are in favour of subsidising renewable energy and reducing energy consumption. They think this should be primarily achieved via taxes as opposed to other types of intervention.
In regard to the new Energy Act, KOF has taken on the role of intermediary between academic research and the general public, with the objective of giving research economists a stronger voice via the survey. KOF defines research economists as Swiss-based economists who are active in the field of research, i.e. who have published articles in scientific magazines.
In its latest survey conducted in collaboration with SRF, KOF asked Swiss-based economists to evaluate the 2050 Energy Strategy, as part of which the Swiss parliament decided to pass a new energy act last year. The Act, whose fate will be decided by the Swiss voters on 21 May 2017, includes measures promoting renewable energy on the one hand and a reduction in energy consumption on the other. A referendum has been launched in opposition to this Act. Given this background, KOF surveyed research economists to find out what they think of the government’s energy policy and which measures they supported. The survey combines the answers of close to 100 research economists (out of 433 potential respondents).
The results of the survey are available on our website.