Do people care about future generations? Moral philosophers say we should, but it is unclear whether laypeople agree. In particular, humanity’s inadequate efforts to mitigate climate change could be due to public indifference or heavy discounting of future generations’ well-being. Using surveys and survey experiments in 4 countries—Sweden, Spain, South Korea, and China—we found that most people say they care about future generations, and would be willing to reduce their standard of living so that people can enjoy better lives in the future. However, not everyone who says they care supports two public actions that could be taken for the benefit of future generations: policies to reduce either global warming or national debt. We find evidence that much of people’s apparent lack of concern for future generations is actually due to distrust of major social institutions, and associated doubts about the effectiveness of future-oriented policies.
