How is political trust associated with economic and environmental policy prioritization? A longitudinal analysis between 2017 and 2022

Abstract

In this article, we examine the longitudinal development of economy-over-environment policy priorities in Finland during a period marked by several significant adverse societal events. In addition, we explore the influence of political trust on these priorities over time. We utilize a five-round panel dataset comprising 2155 observations (N = 431) to examine both within-individual and between-individual variations from late 2017 to early 2023. Our findings reveal a significant increase in the prioritization of the economy in each observation period following the COVID-19 outbreak. However, this trend is not observed among individuals with high levels of political trust. The within-individual analysis indicates that high political trust moderates, rather than causes, higher economy-over-environment prioritization. Our study highlights the significance of political trust as a preventing factor against the deprioritization of environmental policies, particularly when societies confront significant and intersecting adverse events.