13. Public opinion on policy solutions to current and emerging societal challenges

Caroline de La Porte (Copenhagen Business School)

Stefano Sacchi (Politecnico di Torino) 

Zhen Jie Im (Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology) 

Our societies face a host of societal challenges. There are longstanding ones like climate change and population aging, emerging ones like AI, and re-emergent ones like geopolitical conflict. These challenges individually and collectively have uneven labour market and social implications which demand attention from policymakers. For example, population ageing creates skilled worker shortage which can drag on economic growth and exerts fiscal strains on pensions systems. Another is the re-emergence of geopolitical conflict that can compel policymakers to spend more on defence than on the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Despite being in the policymaking spotlight, these challenges remain intractable because they pose a dilemma to policymakers. For example, expanding AI can alleviate labour shortages in many advanced economies but it also raises labour market risks for workers performing tasks substitutable by AI. These challenges also interact which make them even more intractable. For example, moving away from growth-oriented economic systems can slow climate change. However, it can also fiscally strain pensions systems just as population ageing worsens. In short, policymakers must juxtapose between competing policymaking objectives when designing solutions to these challenges. Crucially, policymakers in advanced economies are obliged to consider public opinion when trying to solve to these challenges to avoid electoral backlash. Solutions to individual or collective challenges often entails policy trade-offs where some social groups benefit or lose more than others, which means that the trade-off preference of the various social groups will likely affect policymakers’ decisions. Vote– and office-seeking politicians will thus need to gauge the opinions and reactions of differently affected social groups. Put simply, the intractability of societal challenges in democracies stems both from their structural characteristics but also public opinion. We welcome submissions using qualitative or quantitative research methods focusing on single-country or comparative cases that:

- Compare public opinion on various societal challenges including but not limited to AI, population ageing, climate change, war and geopolitical conflict.

- Explore public opinion on policies to address these challenges that involve trade-offs

- Examine how social policy and labour market institutions influence public opinion on various societal challenges or policies to address them.