Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe

Ferreira, Susana; Akay, Alpaslan; Brereton, Finbarr; Cuñado, Juncal; Martinsson, Peter; Moro, Mirko; Ningal, Tine

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.12.027

Cited by 210 publications

(179 citation statements)

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“…In the past, studies on air pollution and wellbeing generally suggested that poor air quality is a significant and negative predictor of wellbeing (e.g., Levinson, 2012;Welsch, 2002Welsch, , 2006Welsch, , 2007Welsch, , 2009Zeidner & Shechter, 1988). Self-reported life satisfaction (e.g., Ferreira et al, 2013;Li et al, 2014;Liao et al, 2014;Luechinger, 2009Luechinger, , 2010MacKerron & Mourato, 2009;Rehdanz & Maddison, 2008;Welsch, 2006) and positive and negative emotions (e.g., Bullinger, 1989;Yeatts et al, 2014;Zeidner & Shechter, 1988), which are three elements of SWB, were measured as the main indicators of wellbeing in these studies. In other words, the view that air pollution has a negative effect on hedonic wellbeing has been corroborated repeatedly.…”

Section: Theoretical and Practical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means people who were living in Beijing breathed healthy air on only 56% of the days of the year. On the one hand, the growing air pollution will definitely interfere with a better life for people; on the other hand, the rising GDP, indicators of wellbeing used were usually life satisfaction (e.g., Ferreira et al, 2013;Li, Folmer, & Xue, 2014;Liao, Shaw, & Lin, 2014;Luechinger, 2009Luechinger, , 2010MacKerron & Mourato, 2009;Welsch, 2006;Rehdanz & Maddison, 2008), and the presence of positive mood and the absence of negative mood (e.g., Bullinger, 1989;Cuñado & de Gracia, 2013;Yeatts, Cready, Pei, Shen, & Luo, 2014;Zeidner & Shechter, 1988), which are basic components of SWB (Diener, Suh, & Oishi, 1997;Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Under the Dome: Air Pollution, Wellbeing, and Pro-Environmental Behaviour Among Beijing Residents

Huang

Zhang

et al. 2015

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

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T he conflict between economic development and environmental protection has been made salient by increasingly severe air pollution in China, a visible consequence of the costs of rapid economic progress. How does air pollution affect people's psychological experiences? How are newly rich Chinese beginning to think about this social dilemma and are they willing to take any action to deal with the problem? Are there individual differences that contribute to the effect of air pollution on mental experience and concern for environmental protection? The present work explores answers to these questions through two studies among convenience samples of participants residing in Beijing, which is the capital of China and plagued by toxic haze. Study 1 recruited 50 undergraduates and applied a 10-day experience sampling method. Results revealed that the real-time objective air pollution index was negatively associated with immediate subjective wellbeing (SWB) but positively associated with eudaimonic wellbeing (EWB). Study 2 investigated a sample of 288 working adults living in Beijing for their perceptions of air quality, wellbeing, pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) intentions, future orientation, and place attachment. Results revealed that perceived air pollution could not predict general SWB but improved the sense of purpose and meaning in life (i.e., EWB). Furthermore, this association was heightened in individuals who were future-orientated. In addition, perceived air pollution increased PEB intentions, partially through the promotion of EWB, and this effect was stronger in those who were more emotionally attached to Beijing.Keywords: air pollution, subjective wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, pro-environmental behaviour, future orientation, place attachmentAir pollution is a serious environmental problem around the world. The World Health Organization's (WHO) urban air quality database, which covers 1,600 cities across 91 countries, revealed that only 12% of the people living in cities that report on air quality reside in cities where this complies with WHO air quality guideline levels; this issue is particularly prominent in cities in developing countries (WHO, 2014a). In early 2015, a documentary titled Under the Dome aroused widespread concern and hot discussion in Chinese public spheres because of the portrait it presented of severe air pollution in mainland China. Since the economic reform and opening up of China, rapid industrialisation and urbanisation has accelerated the problem of air pollution in mainland China. For example, official data showed that there were up to 161 days of heavy air pollution in 2014 in Beijing, the capital city of China. This means people who were living in Beijing breathed healthy air on only 56% of the days of the year. On the one hand, the growing air pollution will definitely interfere with a better life for people; on the other hand, the rising GDP, Address for correspondence : Dr Fang Wang, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China. Email: fwang@bnu.ed...

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Section: Theoretical and Practical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Under the Dome: Air Pollution, Wellbeing, and Pro-Environmental Behaviour Among Beijing Residents

Huang

Zhang

et al. 2015

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

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“…These requirements, however, are typically met in practice. 10 So far, the life satisfaction approach has been applied to a variety of contexts (see, for example, Welsch (2002Welsch ( , 2006Welsch ( , 2007, Rehdanz and Maddison (2008), Menz (2011), Ferreira et al (2013), or Ambrey et al (2014 for the context of air pollution; Israel and Levinson (2003) for the context of water pollution; Frijters and van Praag (1998), Rehdanz and Maddison (2005), and Maddison and Rehdanz (2011) Specifically, the studies which are most closely related to this study are van Praag and Baarsma (2005) and Rehdanz and Maddison (2008) for the context of noise pollution and Ambrey and Fleming (2011) and Kopmann and Rehdanz (2013) Kopmann and Rehdanz (2013) find that the willingness to pay for artificial land covers, such as minding, dumping, and construction sites, is negative.…”

Section: Life Satisfaction Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5 As the life satisfaction approach has already been applied to valuing other environmental externalities monetarily, including air pollution (see, for example, Welsch (2002Welsch ( , 2006Welsch ( , 2007, Rehdanz and Maddison (2008), Ambrey and Fleming (2011), Menz (2011), Ferreira et al (2013), Kopmann and Rehdanz (2013), or Ambrey et al (2014)) or noise pollution (see, for example, van Praag and Baarsma (2005) or Rehdanz and Maddison (2008)), we contribute to a steadily growing stream of literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sowing the Wind and Reaping the Whirlwind? The Effect of Wind Turbines on Residential Well-Being

Krekel

Zerrahn

2015

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science. Terms of use: Documents inThe decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. AbstractWe investigate the effect of the physical presence of wind turbines on residential wellbeing in Germany, using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and a unique novel panel data set on more than 20,000 wind turbines for the time period between 2000 and 2012. Using a Geographical Information System (GIS), we calculate the proximity between households and the nearest wind turbine as the most important determinant of their disamenities, e.g. visual interference into landscape aesthetics.Our unique novel panel data set on wind turbines, which was collected at the regional level, includes their exact geographical coordinates and construction dates. This allows estimating the causal effect of the physical presence of wind turbines on residential wellbeing, using a difference-in-differences design. To ensure comparability of the treatment and control group, we apply propensity-score and novel spatial matching techniques based on exogenous weather data and geographical locations of residence, respectively.We show that the construction of a wind turbine within a treatment radius of 4,000 m...

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“…In terms of methods of measuring judgments about feelings, "satisfaction with life", used by the World Values Survey (World Values Survey 2016), and "the Cantril Ladder" by Gallup, Inc. (Gallup 2016), are well known. With respect to policy proposal contributions, advantages of this approach have been demonstrated in various ways, including an investigation of the relationship between atmospheric pollution and a decline in subjective well-being (Ferreira et al 2013). However, no studies have quantitatively evaluated the effects of environmental countermeasures, such as radiation-related countermeasures, on anxiety and well-being.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decontamination Reduces Radiation Anxiety and Improves Subjective Well-Being after the Fukushima Accident

Murakami

Harada

Oki

2017

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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Since the 2011 Fukushima accident, rebuilding society to protect against anxiety and improve feelings of well-being has grown in importance. A questionnaire was carried out among residents of Marumori Town, Igu County, Miyagi Prefecture, to evaluate the effects of radiation-related countermeasures implemented by the town to reduce residents' anxiety and improve their subjective well-being (response rate: 31%; valid responses: n = 174). Further, to propose effective countermeasures regarding town planning for the improvement in subjective well-being, we analyzed associations between residents' sense of attachment to the town and subjective well-being, and then identified primary factors behind their sense of attachment. Marumori Town, located about 50 km to the northwest of the Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, is a good site for evaluating the effects of countermeasures taken by the town itself to fight anxiety, because there have been limited surveys and professional medical support, and mitigation efforts were primarily initiated by the town. The results suggested that decontamination evaluations were associated with a reduction in anxiety after the accident, which contributed to an increase in residents' subjective well-being. On the other hand, the evaluation of items related to human interactions in the community and the natural environment was found as a primary factor of sense of attachment toward the town, which contributed to an increase of residents' subjective well-being. This is the first study to quantitatively measure the effects of radiationrelated countermeasures on reducing anxiety and to propose an effective policy approach for improving subjective well-being.Keywords: decontamination; Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident; happiness; radiation; subjective well-being Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2017 February, 241 (2), 103-116. © 2017 Tohoku University Medical Press IntroductionThe Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident (hereafter, the 2011 accident) following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake resulted in multiple risks. In addition to the risk of radiation exposure (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 2014), there was risk from the evacuation (Murakami et al. 2015b), physical risk of diabetes and higher body mass index (Tsubokura et al. 2013;Satoh et al. 2015), and mental health risks . High radiation anxiety was also observed in residents (Orita et al. 2013;Hino et al. 2016). The perception of high radiation risk is associated with mental stress , which, along with mood disorders, is a major risk factor for suicide and other causes of death (Pratt 2009;Mattisson et al. 2015). Further, multiple studies reported that after the 2011 accident, the subjective well-being of people living in the area around the Nuclear Power Station declined (Hommerich 2012;Rehdanz et al. 2015;Tiefenbach and Kohlbacher 2015). After the 2011 accident, the subjective well-being of people living in prefectures adjacent to Fukushima was reduced (Tiefenbach and Kohlbacher 2...

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Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe

Cited by 210 publications

References 35 publications

Under the Dome: Air Pollution, Wellbeing, and Pro-Environmental Behaviour Among Beijing Residents

Under the Dome: Air Pollution, Wellbeing, and Pro-Environmental Behaviour Among Beijing Residents

Sowing the Wind and Reaping the Whirlwind? The Effect of Wind Turbines on Residential Well-Being

Decontamination Reduces Radiation Anxiety and Improves Subjective Well-Being after the Fukushima Accident

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