In a series of novel fram­ing experiments, researchers have shown that our self-identified polit­i­cal lean­ings cor­re­late with how we per­ceive finan­cial losses.

Hun­dreds of online par­tic­i­pants chose between var­i­ous flights, com­put­ers and so on. In each case they could plump for a cheaper option or a more expen­sive, greener option, the lat­ter includ­ing either a ‘tax’ to help reduce car­bon emis­sions, or an ‘off­set’ to do the same – depend­ing on how the choice was framed. Whether the expen­sive option was framed as a tax or off­set made no dif­fer­ence to Demo­c­rat (left-wing) par­tic­i­pants. By con­trast, Repub­li­cans (right-wing) and Inde­pen­dents were much less likely to choose the more expen­sive option when it was labelled as a tax.