The Role of Government in Protecting the Environment: Quality of Government and the Translation of Normative Views about Government Responsibility into Spending Preferences

Figures & data

Table 1 Abbreviations, Country Sample Sizes (n), and Variable Means for 26 Countries

Country	Abbrev.	Number of respondents (n)	Should be govt. 's resp. to protect env.	Support for govt. env. spending	QoG	EPI	GDP per capita	Public spending
Chile	CL	1416	3.74	3.71	0.75	22.8	69.9	21.6
Croatia	HR	1026	3.56	3.79	0.62	22.7	62.2	38.6
Czech Republic	CZ	1400	3.27	3.32	0.67	33.5	81.5	33.4
Denmark	DK	1138	3.42	3.51	0.97	48.7	76.9	40.6
Finland	FI	1186	3.30	3.31	0.97	42.1	75.7	40.6
France	FR	1501	3.53	3.35	0.75	40.6	71.1	48.4
Germany	DE	1689	3.41	3.73	0.89	47.8	80.5	27.9
Hungary	HU	1000	3.42	3.75	0.64	26.2	70.3	43.5
Iceland	IS	1322	3.58	3.64	0.94	47.5	76.5	30.5
Israel	IL	1248	3.37	3.68	0.81	35.9	65.8	37.0
Japan	JP	1611	3.24	3.56	0.86	40.7	72.4	17.1
Korea (South)	KR	1051	3.36	3.72	0.69	35.2	63.8	24.9
Latvia	LV	1002	3.28	3.19	0.63	24.5	64.1	43.9
Lithuania	LT	1006	3.29	3.24	0.57	28.8	61.3	9.4
New Zealand	NZ	1350	3.43	3.57	0.94	37.9	76.4	31.9
Norway	NO	1260	3.37	3.34	0.97	61.7	78.0	38.1
Philippines	PH	1200	3.40	3.84	0.53	7.3	44.0	14.1
Slovakia	SK	1150	3.47	3.67	0.61	29.5	74.5	41.0
Slovenia	SI	1024	3.59	3.68	0.69	31.5	76.4	42.1
Spain	ES	1834	3.59	3.60	0.75	34.8	79.8	20.6
Sweden	SE	1140	3.30	3.52	0.97	47.9	78.1	31.9
Switzerland	CH	1066	3.20	3.58	0.89	63.7	87.7	17.2
Taiwan	TW	1966	3.66	3.80	0.69	47.9	62.2	23.0
Thailand	TH	1475	3.42	3.78	0.42	16.2	52.8	18.6
United Kingdom	UK	1563	3.26	3.41	0.86	41.6	77.4	38.2
United States	US	1390	3.39	3.41	0.81	56.4	67.5	22.7

Notes: Abbreviations, country sample sizes, means for main individual-level variables (views on govt. responsibility and support for spending), main contextual variable (quality of government (QoG)), and country controls (EPI, GDP, and public spending); QoG (ICRG) scores range 0–1, where values closer to 1 are indicative of high-quality government; EPI scores range 0–100, where 100 is indicative of high performance. The measure of GDP per capita is adjusted for purchasing power parities (PPP) and reported in thousand US dollars. Public spending is measured as share (%) of GDP.

FIGURE 1 Correlation between normative views on government responsibility for environmental protection and support for increased government spending on the environment, by country.

FIGURE 2 Scatterplot for the relationship between the strength of the responsibility-spending correlation and the quality of government (QoG).

TABLE 2 Multilevel Models of Support for Government Spending on the Environment

	M1		M2		M3		M4		M5		M6
	b	(S.E.)	b	(S.E.)	b	(S.E.)	b	(S.E.)	b	(S.E.)	b	(S.E.)
Individual level (fixed effects)
Intercept	2.407***	(0.112)	4.738***	(0.318)	4.437***	(0.415)	4.530***	(0.317)	4.823***	(0.471)	5.020***	(0.287)
Woman	−0.004	(0.009)	−0.004	(0.009)	−0.004	(0.009)	−0.004	(0.009)	−0.004	(0.009)	−0.004	(0.009)
Age	−0.003***	(0.000)	−0.003***	(0.000)	−0.003***	(0.000)	−0.003***	(0.000)	−0.003***	(0.000)	−0.003***	(0.000)
Educational attainment level 1–7	0.050***	(0.003)	0.050***	(0.003)	0.050***	(0.003)	0.050***	(0.003)	0.050***	(0.003)	0.050***	(0.003)
Govt. resp. views 1–4	0.335***	(0.027)	−0.260***	(0.074)	−0.257**	(0.075)	−0.214**	(0.073)	−0.250*	(0.109)	−0.324***	(0.067)
Country level
Quality of government (ICRG) 0–1			−3.039***	(0.407)	−1.977**	(0.580)	−2.090**	(0.624)	−2.938***	(0.582)	−2.754***	(0.357)
GDP (per capita)					−0.017**	(0.006)	−0.014	(0.007)
Environmental Performance Index (EPI)					0.009	(0.008)			−0.002	(0.009)
Public spending (% of GDP)					−0.017**	(0.005)					−0.016**	(0.005)
Cross-level interactions
Govt. resp. views * Quality of government			0.775***	(0.094)	0.772***	(0.096)	0.567***	(0.144)	0.787***	(0.135)	0.708***	(0.083)
Govt. resp. views * GDP							0.003	(0.002)
Govt. resp. views * EPI									−0.000	(0.002)
Govt. resp. views * Public spending											0.004**	(0.001)
Random effects
SD Residual	0.815***	(0.003)	0.815***	(0.003)	0.815***	(0.003)	0.815***	(0.003)	0.815***	(0.003)	0.815***	(0.003)
SD Intercept	0.547***	(0.080)	0.292***	(0.048)	0.224***	(0.039)	0.270***	(0.045)	0.292***	(0.048)	0.242***	(0.042)
SD Govt. resp. views	0.133***	(0.020)	0.064***	(0.011)	0.066***	(0.012)	0.059***	(0.011)	0.064***	(0.011)	0.052***	(0.010)
Log likelihood	−38076.8		−38047.7		−38041.9		−38045.0		−38047.6		−38040.8
N	31258		31258		31258		31258		31258		31258
Number of countries	26		26		26		26		26		26

Notes: M1 … M6 = Model 1 … Model 6; ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; p < 0.05. The dependent variable, support for government spending on the environment, ranges 1–5, where 5 indicates support for government to spend much more. The main independent variable at the individual level, i.e., views on government responsibility for protecting the environment (Govt. resp. views), ranges 1–4, where 4 indicates that “government definitely should be responsible.” The gender variable (Woman) was coded so that 0 = “man,” 1 = “woman.” The variable age was used as a continuous variable indicating respondent's age, in years. Educational attainment level was coded so that it ranges from 1 to 7, where 1 represents no formal education, while 7 represents the highest formal education level (i.e., university degree). QoG (ICRG) scores ranges 0–1, where values closer to 1 are indicative of high-quality government; EPI scores range 0–100, where 100 is indicative of high performance. The measure of GDP per capita is adjusted for purchasing power parities (PPP) and reported in thousand US dollars. Public spending is measured as share (%) of GDP. Main cross-level interaction effect (Govt. resp. views * Quality of government) highlighted with light gray background. Due to the small-n problem in multilevel analysis, where a small number of countries combined with an overtly ambitious model specification can yield biased estimates (see, e.g., Bryan and Jenkins 2016), we control for additional country-level moderators (cross-level interaction effects) each in separate models.

FIGURE 3 Marginal effect of views about government responsibility on support for government spending on the environment for different levels of quality of government (QoG).

Bryan, Mark L., and Stephen P. Jenkins. 2016. “Multilevel Modelling of Country Effects: A Cautionary Tale.” European Sociological Review 32(1):3–22. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcv059.

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