A Probit Estimation of Urban Bases of Environmental Awareness: Evidence from Sylhet City, Bangladesh

Alam, Mohammad Masud and Zakaria, AFM (2013): A Probit Estimation of Urban Bases of Environmental Awareness: Evidence from Sylhet City, Bangladesh. Published in: Development Compilation , Vol. 09, No. 01 (2013)

Abstract

This paper evaluates the significant factors contributing to environmental awareness among individuals living in the urban area of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Ordered Probit(OPM) estimation is applied on the value of ten measures of individual environmental concern. The estimated results of OPM reveal the dominance of higher education, higher income, and full-employment status on environmental concern and environmentally responsible behavior. Younger and more educated respondents tended to be more knowledgeable and concerned than older and less educated respondents. The marginal effect of household size, middle-income level income, and part-time employment status of the survey respondents played a less significant role in the degree of environmental awareness. Findings also validate the "age hypothesis" proposed by Van Liere and Dunlap (1980), and the gender effect reveals an insignificant role in determining the degree of environmental concern. Environmental awareness among urban individuals with higher income increased linearly with environmental awareness programs which may have significant policy importance, such as environmental awareness program for old-aged and less-educated individuals, and may lead to increased taxation on higher income group to mitigate city areas' pollution problems.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Ordered Probit Model(OPM),Environmental concern, Environmental awareness , Sylhet City, Bangladesh.
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q53 - Air Pollution ; Water Pollution ; Noise ; Hazardous Waste ; Solid Waste ; Recycling; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development ; Environment and Trade ; Sustainability ; Environmental Accounts and Accounting ; Environmental Equity ; Population Growth

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