Democracy and climate change policies: Is history important?

•Democratic capital captures countries' historical experience with democracy.•We use democratic capital data starting in year 1800 for 87 countries.•Democratic capital determines current climate change policies.•Current democracy plays no role once democratic capital is accounted for.

This paper argues that it is countries' historical experience with democracy, the democratic capital stock, rather than current levels of democracy that determines current climate change policies. Empirical evidence using data starting as far back as year 1800 for 87 countries, which together are responsible for 93.7% of global carbon emissions, suggests that the democratic capital stock has an important and robust effect on climate change policies. A history of executive constraints is particularly important. The current level of democracy does not play a role once democratic capital has been accounted for.