Environmental degradation and happiness

The focus of this paper is the relationship between subjective measures of well-being and individual environmental attitudes. We use an ordered probit model to examine the relationship between measures of subjective well-being and attitudes regarding ozone pollution and species extinction. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey we find a negative coefficient for concern about ozone pollution on individual's well-being and a positive one for concern about species extinction. These results hold when explanatory variables are included indicating whether or not the person lives in a polluted environment, whether or not the person engages in outdoor leisure activities, and the region where an individual lives. These results also hold when we control for individual psychological traits. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.