To what extent does air pollution affect happiness? The case of the Jinchuan mining area, China

Zhengtao Li, Henk Folmer () and Jianhong Xue

Ecological Economics, 2014, vol. 99, issue C, 88-99

Abstract: This paper presents a structural equation model of happiness, as influenced by inter alia perceived risk due to (i) intensity of exposure to polluted air, and (ii) hazard of pollutants. In addition, objective risk measured as proximity to the pollution source, is considered. The main finding is that both types of perceived risk negatively and significantly influence people's happiness, although in absolute terms, the total perceived risk effect is less than the (positive) effect of ability, measured by income and education. Other important determinants of happiness are family size, age, proximity to the pollution source, work environment and current health condition. Perceived risk due to intensity of exposure is influenced by environmental knowledge and proximity to the pollution source; perceived risk of hazard by ability, environmental knowledge, family size, family health experience and proximity to the pollution source. Environmental knowledge is found to be a function of age, ability and work environment. On the basis of the findings, we conclude that reducing air pollution is an important policy measure to ameliorate happiness. As environmental knowledge is an important determinant of perceived risk, reduction policies should be accompanied by disclosure of the state of air quality.

Keywords: Happiness; Money measures of well-being; Perceived risk; Objective risk; Environmental knowledge; Structural equation model; Mining; Air pollution; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (61)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800913003790
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:99:y:2014:i:c:p:88-99

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.12.014

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland

More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().