Research On Effects Of Ecological Environment Satisfaction And Income Level On Residents’ Happiness

Over 40 years of reform and opening up,China’s economic development has made world-renowned achievements,and the quality of life of the people has been increasingly improved.However,the ecological and environmental pollution problems caused by China’s rapid economic development in the past should not be underestimated,for example,the hazy weather has caused different degrees of harm to the physical and mental health of residents across the country.The ecological pollution caused by the rough development may be one of the reasons for the existence of "Easterlin paradox" in some areas of China.Therefore,in order to further improve the residents’ happiness,it is necessary not only to develop the economy to increase the income level of the residents,but also to focus on ecological protection.In other words,solving the contradiction between ecological environmental protection and economic development is the right way to improve the residents’ happiness,and it is also the necessary requirement to meet the people’s desire for a better life.In this context,this paper is oriented to improve residents’ happiness,taking ecological environment satisfaction and income level as the entry point,combining social comparison theory,environmental value theory,hierarchy of needs theory,and using the 2017 China General Social Survey(CGSS)data to construct Ordered Probit model to empirically test the influence mechanism of ecological environment satisfaction and income level on residents’ happiness.This study mainly includes the following: firstly,based on combing and summarizing previous studies,this paper defines the concepts related to residents’ happiness,ecological environment satisfaction and income level,and also elaborates the theoretical basis related to this study.Secondly,this paper presents a theoretical analysis of ecological environment satisfaction and income level jointly affecting residents’ happiness,and proposes four reasonable hypotheses.Then,this paper explains the data sources,variable selection and relevant models involved in this study,and constructs an econometric model based on the research questions as well as conducts descriptive statistical analysis.Finally,this paper conducts an empirical analysis,including benchmark regression analysis,marginal utility analysis,group regression analysis,endogeneity,moderating effect and mediating effect tests.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)The improvement of ecological environment satisfaction is beneficial to the residents’ happiness,and there is no urban-rural and regional heterogeneity in this positive effect.(2)Both absolute income and relative income have a significant positive effect on residents’ happiness,and the relative income has a higher degree of positive effect on residents’ happiness than the absolute income.(3)Income level has a moderating effect on the residents’ happiness in the process of ecological environment satisfaction,specifically,the increase of residents’ income level will weaken the effect of ecological environment satisfaction on their happiness.(4)Absolute income has a mediating effect in the process of eco-environmental satisfaction affecting residents’ happiness,i.e.,eco-environmental satisfaction can affect residents’ happiness by influencing their absolute income.Based on the main findings of the study,this paper proposes the following four specific policy insights: first,strengthen the protection and improvement of the ecological environment and improve the satisfaction of all residents with the ecological environment;second,increase the income of residents and narrow the income gap through appropriate fiscal and tax policies;third,fully consider the differences in the degree of economic development of different regions and formulate policies according to local conditions to promote the balanced development;fourth,implement the development concept that green water and green mountains are the silver mountain of gold,and realize the coordinated and balanced development of ecological environmental protection and economy.