Impacts of pollution abatement projects on happiness: an exploratory study in China

Jin, Zhizhou, Zeng, Saixing, Cao, Cong, Ma, Hanyang and Sun, Daxin (2020) Impacts of pollution abatement projects on happiness: an exploratory study in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 274 . p. 122869. ISSN 09596526

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Abstract

Pollution has been a global concern in recent decades, promoting related actions in an increasing number of areas. While pollution can lead to unhappiness, will pollution abatement simply increase people's happiness? We analyze relevant happiness data collected before and after China's South-to-North Water Diversion Eastern Route Pollution Control Project to test this idea. The empirical results indicate that the pollution abatement project may not enhance happiness in its duration. Some residents may temporarily sacrifice something (such as employment or income), which offsets the positive effect of environmental improvement on their happiness. In subgroup analyses, rural people are found to benefit more from environmental improvement and suffer less in happiness compared with the urban, and so are low-income people compared with the high-income ones. The findings offer new insights into the costs of pollution in terms of happiness and highlight the need to abate pollution meticulously. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Item Type: Article
Keywords: pollution abatement; happiness; population difference; pollution costs
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham Ningbo China > Faculty of Business > Nottingham University Business School China
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122869
Depositing User: QIU, Lulu
Date Deposited: 28 Aug 2020 00:59
Last Modified: 28 Aug 2020 00:59
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/61479

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