Effect of the ecological environment on the residents’ happiness: the mechanism and an evidence from Zhejiang Province of China

Research on the influence of objective ecological environment on residents’ happiness is emphasized more and more, but results of the previous empirical researches related have not reached a consensus on its significance, and the divergence has not been explained fully in theoretical mechanism. In this research, the divergence is explained theoretically based on the happiness theory, and then, the influence of the key ecological environment factors on the happiness of residents in Zhejiang Province of China is analyzed empirically using hierarchical linear model. Results show that in theory the effect of objective environment on the residents’ happiness depends on their cognition and emphasis on the environment factors which are subject to the economic context where they live and their income and is not significant enough if the residents live in underdeveloped economic context and have low income. In the case region, while the individual income is the most prominent impact factor, the objective ecological environment has not significant effect on the residents’ happiness directly and also does not function by affecting the individual income and health due to the residents with the relatively high life pressure and paying stronger attention to earnings than the ecological environment in general during the research period, in order to improve residents’ happiness, it is necessary to increase the residents’ income and their cognition and emphasis on environment by developing green economy and environmental education, and in order to stimulate their pro-environmental behaviors, it is effective to adopt the economic measures, such as the environment property right reform, ecological compensation mechanism construction, environmental charge and penalty and developing ecotourism industry. This research highlights the direct influence of individual subjective factors such as the environment cognition and emphasis level on the happiness effect of ecological environment, and the indirect impact of economic factors such as the region development and residents’ income on ecological happiness. It also advocates application of educational and economic means on enhancing residents’ environmental protection behaviors.