East Asia Workshop: Politics, Economy and Society presents

 

“Chinese Public Attitudes toward the Environment: Patterns and Implications”

Chenyu Qiu and Dali Yang 

PhD Student, Harris School of Public Policy

Professor, Department of Political Science

The University of Chicago

4:30-6:00p.m., Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Pick Lounge, 5828 South University Ave.

 

Abstract

Perhaps no other issue in everyday life has attracted more attention from the Chinese public than air pollution after the 2013 “airpocalypse.” Conventional wisdom, along with theories such as “issue-attention cycle”, would predict an upsurge of public interest in improving the environment in China. Yet the empirical evidence is mixed. Using data from the 2003 and 2013 social surveys, we find only a very modest increase in the percentage of respondents who would put the environment among top three policy priorities. Meanwhile we find a strong contrast in environmental attitudes across income quartiles and believe rising income is the best predictor for changes in environmental concern. We explore the implications of our findings for environmental policy.

 

Workshop website: http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/eastasia/

Student coordinator: Yan Xu (xuyan@uchicago.edu)

Faculty sponsors: Xi Song, Dali Yang and Dingxin Zhao

 

This presentation is sponsored by the Council on Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences and Center for East Asian Studies. Persons with disabilities who believe they may need assistance please contact the student coordinator in advance.