The Effects of Affluence, Economic Development, and Environmental Degradation on Environmental Concern: A Multilevel Analysis

Abstract

The authors engage ecological modernization and treadmill of production theories as well as the longstanding postmaterialist values hypothesis and the objective problems subjective values hypothesis to assess the effects of national level affluence, economic growth, and environmental degradation on the likelihood of environmental concern of individuals in 38 nations. Results of multilevel logistic regression analyses indicate that a higher level of national affluence lessens the likelihood of individual-level proenvironmental concern, whereas contrarily, economic development and growth in environmental degradation both increase the likelihood of such values. The authors conclude by considering the theoretical implications of the findings and outlining future steps in this research agenda.