ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND HAPPINESS: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH BASED ON CHINESE GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY OF 2015

From the dual perspectives of "performance model" and "expectation model", this paper studies the influences of government regulation and public participation on satisfaction with environmental governance and individuals' happiness based on the data from the Chinese General Social Survey in 2015 (CGSS2015). By constructing the structure-equation model (SEM), it was found that: (1) both environmental regulation and public participation can significantly promote individuals' happiness, and the significance of the former is higher than that of the latter; (2) the improvement of satisfaction with environmental governance can effectively enhance individuals' happiness, and it plays an intermediary role in the relationship between environmental regulation, public participation and individuals' happiness. (3) individual characteristics also affect happiness. The economic and social status of the individuals play a positive moderating role in the relationship between environmental regulation and public participation and happiness. Therefore, we should strengthen government regulation and at the same time ensure public participation and change the "process orientation" to "problem orientation" and "result orientation" to truly improve environmental governance performance and public satisfaction. Meanwhile, the government should also pay attention to the environmental demands and living needs of the vulnerable group to realize social justice and improve individuals' happiness.