National Affluence Research Articles

Not All Emissions Are Created Equal: Multidimensionality in Nations’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Affluence/Emissions Nexus

This study proposes a multidimensional emissions profile (MEP) framework, aiming to analyze how a broad social force systematically and heterogeneously affects four emission components of nations: (1) emissions generated by domestic-oriented supply chain activities, (2) emissions embodied in imports, (3) emissions embodied in exports, and (4) direct emissions of end-user activities. I implement a multiregional input-output approach to operationalize these emission components. Using the MEP framework and dynamic fixed-effects models with the seemingly unrelated regression estimator, I find these four emission components are heterogeneously related to national affluence in high-income nations. As these nations become even wealthier, affluence is gradually decoupled from emissions generated by domestic-oriented supply chain activities and direct end-user emissions, yet it remains strongly coupled with the other two emission components in distinct ways. The findings demonstrate the MEP framework’s utility and contribute a multidimensional perspective to the debate on the economic development–climate change relationship.

Affluence and Contact Lens Prescribing.

To assess the impact of national affluence on the extent of prescribing of various types of soft contact lenses. Using information derived from a large bank of contact lens prescribing data, the relationship between the percentage prescribing of daily disposable, toric, silicone hydrogel, and multifocal contact lenses versus the gross domestic product at purchasing parity per capita (GDP [PPP]) was determined for all countries in which contact lens prescribers returned survey forms relating to greater than 100 contact lens fits between 2017 and 2021, inclusive. Data from 39 countries were analyzed, comprising 94,181 contact lens fits. The relationship between percentage contact lens prescribing versus GDP (PPP) was highly statistically significant for daily disposable lenses (r 2 =0.35, P <0.0001), marginally significant for toric lenses (r 2 =0.08, P =0.06), and not significant for silicone hydrogel lenses (r 2 =0.01, P =0.42) or multifocal lenses (r 2 =0.02, P =0.35). The rate of prescribing daily disposable contact lenses, and to a lesser extent toric lenses, is related to national affluence. The contact lens industry, practitioners, and governments/regulatory bodies should remain cognizant of this association and, where possible, reduce cost barriers to the purchase of such contact lens products so that they can be prescribed based on important clinical, refraction, and lifestyle considerations.

Gender and climate change views in context: a cross-national multilevel analysis

ABSTRACT Women express statistically significantly greater climate change concern than men in a number of countries, but this gender gap is not universal around the world. We use multilevel models with cross-level interactions to analyze how the individual-level effects of gender on climate change concern and perceived seriousness are influenced by three macro-level contextual factors: national affluence, climate risk, and gender equality. We find that gender differences in climate change views are statistically significant only in relatively affluent countries, the differences are larger at higher levels of affluence, and greater climate risk amplifies the difference in concern but not perceived seriousness. The effect of gender on climate change views does not statistically significantly vary by level of gender equality.

The role of national affluence, carbon emissions, and democracy in Europeans’ climate perceptions

There are differences across Europe in elements of climate citizenship, including climate concern, perceived responsibility, and willingness to support and take climate action. This paper examines how individual-level climate perceptions correspond to a country's contribution to climate change and its ability to develop climate policies. Data from the European Social Survey Round 8 (23 European countries, n = 44,387) was used to explore how national-level factors (affluence as per capita GDP, carbon emissions as per capita CO2 emissions, and democracy as electoral democracy index) are related to individual-level climate perceptions (climate concern, perceived climate responsibility, climate policy support, and personal climate action). The analysis shows that the studied individual-level perceptions are all linked, and that perceived climate responsibility is a factor that helps in understanding how individual-level climate views are connected. Further, national-level affluence and democracy are connected to stronger individual-level perceptions both directly and through mediating their connections. Our results suggest that achieving ambitious climate policy targets in Europe could benefit from focusing on the role of perceived climate responsibility in boosting policy support and action. Moreover, the connection between national-level (democratic and economic) factors and public climate perceptions emphasises the need to place climate policies in a wider context.

Explaining cross-national variation in the climate change concern gender gap: A research note

Previous research has documented and investigated the gender gap in climate change concern (and environmental concern more generally) in the USA to understand why women tend to be more concerned about this issue than men. However, a largely missing element of the existing research on this topic is the role of macro-level context. The consideration of contextual factors is important because, as shown in this study, aggregate gender differences in climate change concern vary widely across countries. Drawing on prior research and using data from three international surveys, this cross-national study examines the influence of gender equality, climate change vulnerability, and national affluence on gender gaps in concern for climate change. Results from OLS and robust regression analyses indicate that national affluence is consistently associated with a larger gap (with women more concerned) and there is some evidence showing that climate change vulnerability is associated with a smaller gap in concern; however, gender equality was not found to be a consistent significant predictor of the gender gap in climate change concern (although in bivariate correlations it was significant and positive). The finding that the USA pattern of substantially higher concern among women is not universal across countries, but rather is context-specific, opens up new directions for theorizing about how gender shapes concern for climate change and, more broadly, risk perception and environmental attitudes. Future research should build on this study to examine potential pathways linking macro-level context to gender differences in climate change concern at the individual level.

On carrots and mobs

This study explores the global diffusion of a new ethical consumption tactic named carrotmob. We trace the spread of carrotmobs from the US across six continents and compare cases of successful and unsuccessful national diffusion. We argue that the heterogeneous spread of carrotmobs cannot be explained solely by differences in individual characteristics of consumers, such as post-materialist value orientation or income, or in the economic opportunity structures, such as national affluence or the availability of environmental labeled goods. Results from semi-structured interviews with organizers and activists in 15 countries suggest that activist brokers relied on social media to influence mobilization, and that social movement organizations, mass media, and governmental organizations played an important role for the diffusion of those collective actions. Our results support theories of connective action and political opportunities, but contradict theories of statism.

Higher Programmatic Volume in Neonatal Heart Surgery Is Associated With Lower Early Mortality

The early results of congenital heart surgery in neonates remain a challenge. We sought to determine the nature of the association between annual center volume of neonatal cardiac surgery and operative mortality using a multicenter cohort. The dataset consists of 27,556 neonatal procedures performed between 1999 and 2015 in 90 centers participating in the European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association database. Centers with mean annual volume load of six or more that submitted data for at least 3 consecutive years were included. World Bank annual gross national index per capita was utilized as an indicator of temporal national affluence. Multilevel logistic regression was used to create a model including the significant risk factors and to calculate odds ratios for operative mortality. Iterative modeling of the dataset incrementally excluding centers with lower annual caseload was used to identify the relationship between annual volume and mortality. In the model thus calculated including The Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (STAT) mortality score, operative weight and age, noncardiac genetic anomalies, and annual volume of operations were independent risk factors for operative mortality in the analysis of the entire cohort. In the model containing these variables, annual gross national index and year of surgery were not significantly associated with mortality. In the iterative process, annual volume ceased to be a risk factor when units operating on fewer than 60 neonates annually were excluded. In neonatal congenital heart surgery, the risk of operative death decreased with the increase of volume load. The cutoff point in this cohort was a mean annual volume of 60 neonatal operations per year.

The decline of self-interest: reality or myth? analysing the polarisation of opinions across european societies

Increasing attention is placed to redistributive attitudes, especially in the light of growing inequalities throughout the world. From Aristotle to Marx, the discipline classically shares a simple, albeit powerful assumption: individuals are mainly (or even only) motivated by their own self-interest. However, it is also assumed that alternative motivations may emerge as soon as the context allows this to happen. This article tests the impact of economic well-being at the societal level. Two main hypotheses are tested. First, the so-called ‘governmental protection hypothesis’, according to which support for redistribution declines at times of higher levels of national affluence. Second, the ‘declining self-interest hypothesis’, whereby national prosperity is expected to mitigate the income-based polarisation of redistributive preferences. While empirical evidence confirms the former, but not the latter, it also opens up a window of opportunity to develop an alternative theoretical explanation of attitude formation rooted in the social psychological literature.

Rethinking Economic Conditions and Environmental Attitudes: Macroeconomic Effects, Individual Experiences, and Subjectivity

The global environmental concern literature has focused on economic development as a contextual predictor of environmental attitudes with conflicting empirical results. Some studies, informed by postmaterialist theory or the affluence hypothesis, find that national affluence increases environmental concern, whereas others find the opposite. In this article, we qualify the economy and environmental attitude relationship by arguing that it has several dimensions: long-term macroeconomic history, short-term economic growth, individuals’ recent economic experiences, individuals’ subjective understandings of the national economy, and their personal economic circumstances. This holistic framework is operationalized with multilevel models and data from the Life in Transition II project, using outcomes for climate change attitudes. We find that recent economic hardships at the individual level (e.g., a job loss) have a positive to null effect. More subjectively, respondents who believe that the recent global recession had a negative effect on their household are more concerned with climate change. At the country level, long-run economic development does little to explain cross-national differences in climate change attitudes whereas short-run, relative economic growth increases both climate change concern and willingness to pay for climate policy. More broadly, future research should de-emphasize long-run, macroeconomic conditions as determinants of environmental attitudes.

More than Cash: Societal Influences on the Risk of Material Deprivation

This paper considers the societal factors which determine a household’s command over resources aside from cash income. The aim of this paper is to explain why in some European countries the deprivation risk for households is relatively low despite high absolute poverty levels. Two main mechanisms at the societal level are identified that reduce deprivation but which do not directly impact disposable income. The first is the provision of in-kind benefits which increase the purchasing power of households; the second is informal support from networks. An analysis using 2012 EU-SILC data shows that both factors are significant in explaining the cross-country variation in Europe while controlling for national affluence. Households which have higher in-kind benefits from social services as well as non-cash company benefits and their own production show lower levels of deprivation. On the national level, universally provided social services (e.g. housing, healthcare or transport) can substantially improve the living conditions of the income poor and reduce social exclusion. However, the main factor explaining cross-country variation in deprivation is the provision of informal support from networks. When the social context is dominated by low generalised trust, social support for poor households is lower, leading to a marginalisation of the poor. In contrast, when trust is high, support from kin and non-kin networks in terms of lump sum transfers or co-usage of consumer goods significantly improve living conditions.

Siblings, asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema: a worldwide perspective from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood.

BackgroundAssociations of larger families with lower prevalences of hay fever, eczema and objective markers of allergic sensitization have been found fairly consistently in affluent countries, but little is known about these relationships in less affluent countries.MethodsQuestionnaire data for 210 200 children aged 6–7 years from 31 countries, and 337 226 children aged 13–14 years from 52 countries, were collected by Phase Three of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Associations of disease symptoms and labels of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema were analysed by numbers of total, older and younger siblings, using mixed (multi-level) logistic regression models to adjust for individual covariates and at the centre level for region, language and national affluence.ResultsIn both age groups, inverse trends (P < 0.0001) were observed for reported ‘hay fever ever’ and ‘eczema ever’ with increasing numbers of total siblings, and more specifically older siblings. These inverse associations were significantly (P < 0.005) stronger in more affluent countries. In contrast, symptoms of severe asthma and severe eczema were positively associated (P < 0.0001) with total sibship size in both age groups. These associations with disease severity were largely independent of position within the sibship and national GNI per capita.ConclusionsThese global findings on sibship size and childhood asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema suggest at least two distinct trends. Inverse associations with older siblings (observations which prompted the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ for allergic disease) are mainly a phenomenon of more affluent countries, whereas greater severity of symptoms in larger families is globally more widespread.

Intergenerational perspectives on ageing, economics and globalisation.

Evidence shows population ageing to be historically a product of economic development, closely associated with high living standards and national affluence. Nonetheless, fears that an aged population leads to economic stagnation and public bankruptcy are widespread. In justification for cuts to public programs and the transfer of costs and risks from the state to individuals and families, the projections of social expenditures, in particular those based on ageing, are frequently identified as overgenerous and unsustainable in many G20 countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Claims based on intergenerational research methodologies and frameworks, a relatively new and innovative approach to using data projections, have proven to be important in these policy debates. This paper explores the application of these new technologies to understanding the impact of ageing on the economy in the globalised world of the 21st century.

What matters to the rich and the poor? Subjective well-being, financial satisfaction, and postmaterialist needs across the world.

This study explored the importance of financial satisfaction versus postmaterialist needs for subjective well-being (SWB). Using the Gallup World Poll, we examined whether financial satisfaction and postmaterialist needs (pertaining to autonomy, social support, and respect) were universal predictors of the different components of SWB across the world, and whether their effects were moderated by national affluence. Results showed that financial satisfaction was the strongest predictor of life evaluation, whereas respect was the strongest predictor of positive feelings. Both measures predicted negative feelings to some extent. Multilevel analyses also revealed moderating effects of societal wealth. The association between financial satisfaction and SWB and that between postmaterialist needs and SWB were stronger in richer nations compared with poorer ones. This suggests that developed economies should continue to focus on both material and psychological aspects, and not disregard economic gains, as both measures are essential to well-being.

Public Support for International Human Rights Institutions: A Cross‐National and Multilevel Analysis

The expansion of international human rights institutions has drawn much attention. Bringing together theories from sociology, political science, and international law, this article examines what factors promote public support for international human rights institutions, using the recent wave of the World Values Survey data (2005–2008). The level of public support displays both cross‐national and cross‐individual variations, so I conceptualize it as a two‐level process and employ the multilevel modeling. At the individual level, it is found that men, younger people, and individuals with more education and income show a higher level of support. At the country level, national affluence, political change (de‐democratization), and linkage to the world society are associated with more support. I further integrate individual‐level characteristics and country‐level social contexts, and pay special attention to education. Education is the institutional link between macro‐level social influences and micro‐level individual attitudes. I find that the support‐promoting effect of education is contingent on social contexts. It is more salient in wealthy countries and countries with strong ties to the world society.

A shift from public to private environmental behavior: Findings from Hadler and Haller (2011) revisited and extended

In 2011, we published the article ‘Global activism and nationally driven recycling: The influence of world society and national contexts on public and private environmental behavior’ in International Sociology. We considered the effects of national affluence, political opportunity structures, and global ties on these two environmental behaviors. This initial analysis showed that public behavior is quite similar across countries, while private behavior is more strongly influenced by the national context. Furthermore, a higher level of development, permissive political opportunities, and more ties to world society showed positive effects on both public and private behaviors. The 2011 analysis and conclusions were based on survey data from 23 countries collected by the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) in 2000/2001. This crosssectional design did not allow for any insights in changes over time. Meanwhile, ISSP has collected another wave of data on environmental behaviors and attitudes in 2010/2011. Together with the older ISSP data from 1993/1994, this research note utilizes a threewave design that allows more complex insights. The present time-comparative analysis extends and qualifies some of the initial observations. Private and public behaviors are becoming more similar across countries over time, and, therefore, homogenization processes are present in both dimensions. The underlying trends, however, are contrarian. Activism has decreased and private behavior

Environmental Concern in Cross‐National Perspective: The Effects of Affluence, Environmental Degradation, and World Society*

ObjectiveThis study assesses competing macro‐level explanations of national‐level environmental concern. Drawing on previous research, we test the effects of national affluence, environmental degradation, and world society integration on various dimensions of environmental concern.MethodWe utilize factor analysis to separate distinct dimensions of concern. Then, we estimate bivariate correlations using data from the latest (fifth) wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) and a multivariate panel regression model using data from four WVS waves (1990–2008).ResultsBivariate correlations reveal inconsistent relationships across the various dimensions of environmental concern. The panel analysis suggests that environmental degradation is positively associated with environmental concern expressed as willingness to pay higher taxes, affluence is either negatively or not associated, and international nongovernmental organizations are not significantly associated.ConclusionEnvironmental conditions significantly influence levels of environmental concern around the world. It should not be assumed that affluence is the determining factor in global environmental concern.

What drives political consumption in Europe? A multi-level analysis on individual characteristics, opportunity structures and globalization

Political consumption is an individualized form of collective action that varies considerably across Europe. Citizens as consumers participate in boycotts and ‘positive’ buying of goods based on ethical, political and environmental considerations. Overcoming the individualistic bias of past research, the comparative analysis extends actor-centred explanations by focusing on political, cultural and economic opportunity structures and on globalization as contextual factors. Economic opportunities for political consumption are provided by national affluence, retailing structures and the supply of environmental and fair-labelled goods. Political and cultural opportunities are facilitated by ‘statist’ institutions, social movement organizations as well as trust and post-materialist culture. The impact of globalization is measured by international economic exchange. Logistic multi-level models on the first wave of the European Social Survey for 19 countries reveal that economic opportunity structures and political institutions best explain variations, while globalization does not affect citizens’ decisions to voice their interest in consumption. Finally, the effect of individual value orientations is increased by a low-cost context.

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

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.

From Materialist to Post-Materialist Happiness? National Affluence and Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Cross-National Perspective

This paper takes the theory of value change as developed by Inglehart as a point of departure and tests its implications for the determinants of human happiness. It investigates whether the importance of post-material concerns for happiness, relative to that of materialist concerns, is indeed higher in rich post-industrial societies. Personal autonomy and job creativity serve as indicators for post-materialist concerns, the income domain as an indicator for materialist concerns. The main assumption is put against data for 48 countries from wave 5 of the World Values Survey, the most recent survey, which covers the full range from poor agrarian to rich post-industrial societies. Employing a multi-level design, the paper indeed reveals a quite consistent pattern towards post-materialist happiness as we move from poor to rich societies. This pattern seems to be driven by both a devalorization of material concerns and a valorization of post-materialist concerns, although the evidence suggests that the former trend is stronger and more linear than the latter.

Suicide Rates, National Intelligence Estimates, and Differential K Theory

In a nation sample of 75 countries around the world, higher suicide rates of the total male, and female population corresponded to higher levels on the superordinate K factor from differential K theory, thought to reflect a set of mutually interrelated life history and reproductive strategy traits. Countries ranking high on suicide rates concurrently ranked high on national intelligence estimates, longevity, and affluence, whilst low on rates of births, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and crimes (rape, serious assault, and homicide). These findings integrate previously reported positive population-level associations between suicide rates and cognitive ability variables into the conceptual space of differential K theory. The propensity toward suicidal behavior is a positive correlate of the K superfactor.