The wealth of nations matters: A cross-national analysis of how political orientation and household income affect attitudes toward environmental protection

Abstract

The article investigates normative preferences for environmental protection over economic growth registered in 74 countries—based on the European Values Study and the World Value Survey (2017–2022). We employ multi-level logistic regression to demonstrate that Gross Domestic Product per capita moderates the effects of political orientation and household income, both of which tend to be stronger in wealthier countries. Only in wealthy societies are left-leaning and affluent individuals far more likely to prefer environmental protection. Not accounting for moderation leads to underestimating the propensity for political polarization over environmental questions. Hence, our study suggests that large-scale implementation of growth-impeding or wealth-sacrificing environmental policies could face insurmountable public opposition in wealthy societies. Furthermore, failing to account for the moderation by GDP per capita in cross-national studies of environmental attitudes may constitute a confounding factor by aggregating wealthier countries, where the effects of political orientation and household income prove substantial, with the poorer ones, where they appear negligible.