Public good of ecology: results of international survey

Abstract

Based on an author’s survey of citizens living in different countries, the hypothesis of low demand for the public good «clean environment» for developing countries and for high demand – for developed countries was tested. The attitude of representatives of different nations to the environment as a public good was studied based on the results of a survey of 564 respondents from different countries (228 from Ukraine and 336 from abroad). k-means method was used for clustering, which allows the creation k-groups from a set of data. It was determined that the respondents of the 1st cluster are more satisfied than others with the level of personal awareness of the state of the environment in their countries than the respondents of the 2nd cluster. Most of the population in all surveyed groups receives information about the environmental situation from the Internet. Representatives of both clusters are aware of environmental human rights at the average level (65-75%). Representatives of both clusters are ready to take an active part in solving environmental problems, but among the representatives of the 1st cluster there are much more people who know about the existence of international environmental organizations. Only about half of the respondents from both clusters believe in the threat of a global environmental crisis. Representatives of the 2nd cluster and Ukrainians see the greatest threat to the environment in the transport and manufacturing spheres, while representatives of the 1st cluster pay considerable attention to other factors. Approximately the same number of respondents in both clusters acknowledge that corruption affects the environment. The situation in the survey on the destructive impact of financial-industrial groups on the environment is similar. About 90% of respondents in the 1st cluster and over 95% of Ukrainians consider environmental protection a public good, while in the 2nd cluster only 75% hold a similar opinion. The analysis of the survey results confirms the hypothesis about the sociality of the choice of the public good «clean environment», important for the design of environmental policy tools in the long run. Underestimation of the public good «clean environment» indicates a potentially weak public pressure to form a model of economic policy that corresponds to the modern understanding of sustainable development.