The Impact of Income Inequality on Subjective Environmental Pollution: Individual Evidence from China

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between income inequality and objective environmental pollution, but few focus on the nexus between income inequality and subjective environmental pollution (SEP). Using micro data from the Chinese General Society Survey (CGSS) in 2013 and official statistical data at the provincial level, this paper tests the impact of individual-level income inequality on subjective environmental pollution in China. The results show that individual-level income inequality has an inverted U-shape relationship with subjective environmental pollution, which indicates that increasing the income inequality at the individual level will first rise and then reduce their perceived subjective environmental pollution after reaching the peak. For about 84% of respondents, their subjective environmental pollution decreases with the increase of individual-level income inequality. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analyses show that the income inequality of urban residents and of the locals have an inverted U-shape effect on SEP, and the SEP of females and of individuals with positive environmental attitude are more sensitive to the effect of income inequality. Additionally, we find that subjective well-being plays a mediating role in the relation between income inequality and SEP. Individual income inequality decreases their self-reported well-being, and an increase in well-being has a negative effect on their subjectively perceived environmental quality. We also find non-television media exposures, such as newspaper, magazine, broadcasting, Internet, and mobile custom messages, will amplify the effect of individual-level income inequality on subjective environmental pollution.

Environmental Inequality in Austria: Sociodemographic Disparities in Perceived Environmental Quality

“…The work at hand is also one of the very few environmental inequality studies based on perceived environmental conditions. To date, similar research on subjective environmental inequality has only been published in Germany (Kohlhuber et al 2006;Mielck et al 2009), Switzerland (Diekmann and Meyer 2010) and China (Li and De 2021). The work by Kohlhuber et al (2006), assessing subjective environmental inequality in Germany, is most comparable to the study at hand.…”

The causes of income inequality in urban China: A household assets perspective

“…Different from the Gini coefficient, which is mainly used in the measurement of income inequality at the group level, income inequality at the household level can be measured by the relative deprivation in income, which highlights that income inequality comes from the comparison of households with high-income reference groups (Kakwani, 1984). This approach to measuring income inequality has been used in a growing number of empirical studies on Chinese households (He et al, 2021; Li and Xiao 2021; Qin et al, 2021). Commonly employed income deprivation indexes are the Yitzhaki index (Yitzhaki, 1979) and Kakwani index (Kakwani, 1984).…”