The Tradeoff between Growth and Environment: Evidence from China and the United States

This paper empirically analyzes individual attitudes on the tradeoff between environment and economy, and factors that might influence such choice for two representative countries: China and the United States. Based on the World Value Survey, the Chinese are found more inclined to support environmental protection, while people from the United States choose economic growth as priority. Considering three sets of correlates of sociodemographics, environmental attitude and social context, variables such as education, political affiliation and environmental consciousness show significance in influencing personal preferences, and the effect of health, age, employment and marital status demonstrates heterogeneity across countries. Such micro-level evidence on how the public weighs the economy versus environment can provide policy guidance for the government to better respond to public opinions.