Dr. Rotem Dvir, Assistant Research Scientist, ISTPP Director Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, and ISTPP Fellows Dr. Xinyue Ye published a paper about environmental hazards risk perceptions in the journal Urban Informatics (Worried (and) sick: how environmental hazards affect Americans’ health-related risk attitudes). The study, conducted as part of the Texas Center for Environmental Health Research (funded in part by NIEHS grant P30ES029067) focuses on identifying the different factors that shape public health-related risk perceptions of under-explored environmental threats like water and air pollution, soil contamination and toxicants release.
The study adjusts a common Climate Change Risk Perceptions Model and proposes important roles for factors like knowledge of hazards and their impact, personal health conditions and the social context. The analyses of data from a national sample reveal higher health-related risk perceptions among individuals with pre-existing health conditions and greater knowledge of environmental threats. Conversely, individuals in communities with robust social connections report lower risk attitudes. An in-depth analysis of a subset of at-risk communities demonstrates the critical role of structural conditions like high levels of air pollution in exacerbating public health attitudes.
Dr. Xinsheng Liu Presents ISTPP Research at Conference and Invited Talks
Dr. Xinsheng Liu, ISTPP Senior Research Scholar and Research Scientist, attended the 120th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Philadelphia from September 4-8, 2024. During the conference, he presented a research paper titled “Threat Perception, Issue Knowledge, and Public Coproduction Preferences” to the APSA Panel: Renovating Democracy through Addressing Environmental Justice. ISTPP Director Dr. Arnold Vedlitz and Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Rotem Dvir are co-authors.
Dr. Xinsheng Liu visited Peking University and Gave Academic Talks
At the invitation of the School of Government of Peking University, Dr Liu visited Peking University in August 2024. During his visit, he delivered two research talks to the School of Government, one on how air pollution affects political trust in China, and the other on how focusing events shape public opinion and agenda setting.
ISTPP Researchers Publish in Environmental Politics
Environmental Politics, one of the top political science journals, has published “Tainted Trust: Air Pollution and Political Trust in China,” a study co-authored by Drs. Xinsheng Liu (ISTPP Senior Research Scholar and Research Scientist), Youlang Zhang (ISTPP Research Follow and Professor at Renmin University of China), Taiping Ding (Postdoctoral Researcher Sun Yat-sen University and former ISTPP visiting pre-doctoral scholar), and Arnold Vedlitz (ISTPP Director).
The authors examine how air pollution may affect the political trust of Chinese citizens in their government. From an expectation-performance perspective, they argue that air pollution leads Chinese citizens to feel that their basic needs and well-being are inadequately protected by the government, thereby diminishing their political trust. Empirically, the authors employ a unique dataset (n=3,972) that merges national public opinion survey with satellite-derived ground-level air pollution data to test their argument. Data analyses show that worsening air pollution significantly undermines Chinese citizens’ trust in the government, while the absolute level of local air pollution also erodes their political trust through raised environmental concern and lowered policy satisfaction. This research contributes to the understanding of the links between air pollution and political trust in China and provides new insights for future studies of environmental politics and governance elsewhere.
Liu, Xinsheng, Taiping Ding, Youlang Zhang, and Arnold Vedlitz. 2024. “Tainted Trust: Air Pollution and Political Trust in China,” Environmental Politics, 1-21.
ISTPP Researchers publish in Policy Studies Journal
Dr. Xinsheng Liu, ISTPP Senior Research Scholar and Research Scientist, and Dr. Youlang Zhang, ISTPP Research Fellow and Professor at Renmin University of China, have published “How Does a Focusing Event Shape Public Opinion? Natural Experimental Evidence from the Orlando Mass Shooting,” in the Policy Studies Journal.
The authors reconceptualize the multiple layers of public opinion and formulate testable hypotheses to investigate the causal effects of a major focusing event—the 2016 Orlando nightclub mass shooting—on public opinion. Using survey data collected immediately pre- and post-Orlando shooting, the authors find that this event significantly heightened public attention to terror-related issues, particularly armed terror attacks on civilians, and enhanced public support for augmented government counterterrorism spending. However, the event did not significantly alter public attention or support for government spending on other terror-related acts less relevant to the Orlando shooting. More importantly, the event did not change individuals’ policy preferences regarding specific policy proposals to address mass shootings. This study enriches public policy and public opinion research and provides fresh insights into the relationship between focusing events and public agenda setting. A short version of the article is available at this blog site of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Zhang, Youlang and Xinsheng Liu. 2024. “How does a focusing event shape public opinion? Natural experimental evidence from the Orlando mass shooting,” Policy Studies Journal, 1-27.
Drs. Mu and Liu Publish in Economics Letters
Dr. Ren Mu (Robert H. and Judy L. Allen Professor of the Department of International Affairs of the Bush School and ISTPP Research Fellow) and Dr. Xinsheng Liu (ISTPP Senior Research Scholar and Research Scientist) published an article entitled “Perceived Returns to College Education by Ethnicity: Evidence from China” in Economics Letters.
In this study, Mu and Liu investigate perceived returns to education as a potential factor contributing to ethnic differences in schooling outcomes in Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. Drawing upon data from a 2019 household survey, the paper leverages specially designed survey instruments based on vignette questions to capture respondents’ ethnicity-specific perceived returns to college education. It finds that Mongolian respondents perceive significantly higher returns to education when the vignette person has a Mongolian name. This result remains robust after accounting for sample attrition issues. The finding establishes a strong correlation between perceived returns to education and educational outcomes in the context of China and highlights the heterogeneity within ethnic minority groups.
Mu, Ren, and Xinsheng Liu. 2024. “Perceived Returns to College Education by Ethnicity: Evidence from China,” Economics Letters 236: 111625