Are There Regional Differences In The Impact Of Smog On Residents' Well-being?

Over the past four decades of reform and opening up,with the development of China's industrialization,urbanization and modernization,the national economy has continued growing rapidly and the subjective well-being of residents has improved a lot.However,the extensive economic growth mode of great energy consumption,high pollution and high risk dramatically consumes non-renewable resources,which makes the environmental pollution problem increasingly prominent.The haze is a prominent manifestation of environmental pollution.In the recent years,China's“haze weather”has appeared frequently,seriously threatening the health of residents and hindering the further development of the national economy.According to the report of World Health Organization in 2016,it is estimated that?outdoor?air pollution in urban,suburban and rural areas has leaded to premature deaths of 4.2 million people worldwide^[1].The consumption type of air pollution has been exacerbating,endangering the health of residents,thereby reducing the subjective well-being of residents.However,the production type of air pollution brings about the high-speed economic growth,actually improving the quality of people's livelihood and increasing the subjective well-being of residents.Then the impact of environmental pollution on the subjective well-being of Chinese residents cannot be simply and conclusively determined^[27].Based on the CGSS2013 national survey data,with the literature analysis method,theoretical analysis method and empirical analysis method,this paper tries to use the ordered logit model to investigate the influence of haze pollution on residents'subjective well-being from two aspects:subjective perception of air pollution and objective actual haze respectively.And we further examine whether there are regional differences in the influence of haze on the subjective well-being of Chinese residents.Finally,based on the research results,this paper provides some decision-making references for policy makers.This paper begins with the background of the increase of haze pollution in China and the decline of residents'subjective well-being which expounds the great significance of investigating whether haze has a bad influence on residents'subjective well-being.Next,this paper reviews the literature on the relationship between“objective existing environmental pollution and economic growth”and“the relationship between environmental pollution and residents' subjective well-being”,then explains some shortcomings of domestic and foreign research,according to which we make some contribution.This article uses the haze index data from China Eco-Environment Bulletin between 2013 and 2017 and the haze index data published in the China Statistical Yearbook from 2014 to 2018,intending to show an overall view of the current situation of haze in China and compare the current situation of haze in different regions.At the same time,this paper uses CGSS2010 to 2015 national survey data to explain the current situation of Chinese residents'subjective well-being and make regional comparisons.The results show that the haze in China is serious and there are regional differences.The severity of haze from the high to the low is middle region,eastern region and western region respectively.In general,the subjective well-being of Chinese residents is at a relatively high level,but there is regional imbalance in subjective well-being.The residents from eastern region have the strongest sense of subjective well-being;The residents from middle region comes second in the sense of subjective well-being,followed by the residents from western region.Subsequently,this paper uses CGSS2013 national survey data to make a descriptive analysis of the relationship between haze and residents'subjective well-being,finding that there is an obviously negative correlation between them;Next,this paper combines the corresponding hypotheses put forward in the previous studies,carries out the empirical research:the empirical research on the impact of air pollution of subjective perception and the influence of actual haze on residents'happiness respectively,and obtains relatively stable results,then concludes with the following conclusions:?1?In general,once the residents subjectively perceive that air pollution is aggravating,subjective well-being will decline,which means that there is an obviously negative correlation between the degree of subjective air pollution and residents'subjective well-being;?2?There are regional differences in the impact of the degree of subjective air pollution on residents'subjective well-being.The negative influence of subjective air pollution on residents from the eastern region is the worst and the most significant while the negative effect on the subjective well-being of the residents from the middle and western regions is not obvious;?3?It denies the hypothesis that actual haze pollution has a positive impact on the subjective well-being of residents through economic growth which proves that the economic growth mechanism does not exist;?4?There are also regional differences in the impact of the actual haze pollution on residents'subjective well-being.Although the actual haze pollution does have a negative effect on the subjective well-being of residents from the eastern,the middle and the western regions,the residents from the middle region are most affected by haze,followed by the residents from the western region and the residents from the western region respectively.Finally,this paper makes some conclusions based on the empirical research,and puts forward the following relevant policy suggestions:?1?to strengthen the air pollution control legislation clarifying the responsibilities of the government and enterprises;?2?to improve environmental protection technology innovation reducing pollution environment;?3?to promote the healthy and rapid development of the economy further improving the average income of family.