Replication Data for: Do Extreme Weather Events Increase Public Concern, Knowledge, and Attention to Climate Change in China?

We study the effect of climate change related extreme weather events on public concern, knowledge, and attention to climate change in China. First, we match the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) extreme weather events data with the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). We test whether people living in prefectures with more extreme weather events consider climate change more damaging and have a better knowledge of climate change. We find no such associations. Moreover, we collect 2020 data on extreme weather events from local newspapers for five Eastern and Southeastern Chinese provinces. We test whether such local extreme weather events increase public attention to climate change as reflected in climate change related Baidu search volume index (SVI). We find no associations, either. Interestingly, we find that in prefecture-days for which a higher number of Covid cases was reported, local population conducted more Baidu searches regarding climate change and the environment, which seems to support the “great reflection” thesis, that is, major exogenous shocks such as the pandemic put a spotlight on fundamental challenges facing the humanity and have gotten us to reassess our priorities.