Environmental satisfaction among residents in Chinese cities
- PDF / 285,900 Bytes
- 19 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 22 Downloads / 178 Views
Environmental satisfaction among residents in Chinese cities Chunhua Wang1 · Changdong Zhang2,3 · Yong Wang4 Received: 28 April 2017 / Accepted: 13 May 2019 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract In recent years, the deterioration of the environment has become a top concern in China. This paper investigates the factors that influence the satisfaction of urban residents with the local air and water quality in Chinese cities by using a unique dataset collected through an interview survey with about 25,000 participants. The study shows that a respondent’s true rating could be systematically different from her stated choice in the survey. Empirical results reveal that respondents have a tendency to underreport their level of satisfaction. In addition, a respondent’s true level of satisfaction is more likely to be lower if the individual is male and younger. Educational attainment is also correlated with a respondent’s level of satisfaction. Keywords Environmental satisfaction · Air · Water · Survey · Choice modeling · Response bias
This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) of WorldFish. We thank Herminia Francisco, Julienne V. Bariuan, and EEPSEA staff for their support throughout the study. We would like to express our gratitude to Daigee Shaw, Herminia Francisco, Benoit Laplante, Pham Khanh Nam, and participants at EEPSEA 2013 and 2014 annual conferences for valuable comments and suggestions. Mengying Li, Guang Zhu, Yue Ma, and Shuolin Shi provided able research assistance. The usual disclaimer applies.
B
Changdong Zhang [email protected] Chunhua Wang [email protected] Yong Wang [email protected]
1
Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
2
School of Government, Peking University, Beijing, China
3
Center for Public Opinion Research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
4
School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
123
C. Wang et al.
JEL Classifications C25 · C51
1 Introduction After about forty years of extraordinarily rapid economic growth, China is facing the most severe environmental degradation in its history. The country is trying to improve its environmental quality while simultaneously promoting economic growth. The governmental appropriations for environmental protection have doubled since the 1990s. Over the period of 1996–2000, environmental investment expenditure in China averaged only 0.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) and reached 1.1% in 2000. Between 2001 and 2010, it continued to grow, reaching 1.67% of GDP in 2010. In 2016, the amount was 922 billion RMB (about 140 billion US dollars). Improvement has been achieved in air and water quality, industrial solid waste reduction, and biodiversity protection; however, this is still not in line with environmental pressure and challenges facing China (OECD 2007). Environmental quality and protectio
Data Loading...
