China Policy Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2018 | Page 88

China Policy Journal • Vol. 1, No. 1 • Fall 2018 Subjective and Objective Air Quality in Urban China: The Moderating Effect of Environmental Transparency Liang Ma 1* and Wenxuan Yu 2 Abstract Due to fast industrialization and sweeping urbanization in China, environmental pollutions have been jeopardizing China’s economic and biological sustainability. Environmental pollutions have ignited public outcry and social unrest, which may undermine the ruling party’s regime support and legitimacy. Citizen’s political actions related to environmental degradation are largely determined by their perceptions of environmental pollutions, which are subjective and socially constructed. In this study, we use data from various sources (nationwide citizen survey, government statistics, and external assessments) and employ a multilevel modeling strategy to empirically explore the antecedents of citizens’ perceptions of air quality. We examine to what extent objective air quality and environmental information availability (transparency) jointly affect citizens’ perceptions of air quality. After controlling for a variety of confounding variables, we find that subjective air quality is positively related to objective air quality and environmental transparency negatively moderates this relationship. The findings generate significant theoretical and practical implications for environmental policy, government performance measurement, and transparency. Keywords: environmental pollution, air quality, China, subjective performance measurement, government transparency Calidad del aire subjetiva y objetiva en la China urbana: el efecto moderador de la transparencia ambiental Resumen Debido a la rápida industrialización y urbanización radical en Chi- 1 School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China 2 School of Public Affairs and School of Public Policy, Xiamen University, China * Corresponding author: [email protected] 85 doi: 10.18278/cpj.1.1.4