Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We posit a theory that individual preferences toward greater environmental policy action are shaped significantly by the levels of environmental issue salience. At the micro level, perceived environmental problems are expected to have a positive association with support for more government spending to address environmental problems and willingness to pay greater levels of taxes to tackle climate change. This outcome holds at the micro level irrespective of the actual environmental quality pressures at the macro level. Consequently, while country specific fixed effects may produce differential intercepts with regards to support for the environment, the slope coefficients of actual environmental problems are not necessarily expected to be significant for individual level environmental policy preferences.

In a hierarchical regression model (using Life in Transition Survey III 2015 and country-level environmental measures-CO2 emissions metric tons per capita and PM2.5 air pollution micrograms per cubic meter exposure in 2012-2014), we present empirical evidence that environmental issue salience is a significant covariate of support for the environment. The result is robust to competing model specifications, as well as in regressions based on membership in the European Union, location in the Balkans, or membership (and location) in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS—Organization dominated by the Russian Federation and mostly comprised of the former USSR countries). These findings offer practical applications—in order to create conditions conducive to environmental policy action, policy makers and relevant stakeholders must enhance their efforts in boosting the visibility of environmental problems.