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