Dose environmental information disclosure raise public environmental concern? Generalized propensity score evidence from China

This paper assesses the impact of environmental information disclosure on public environmental concern based on data from China General Social Survey 2013 (CGSS2013) and the matched socio-economic indicators and environmental information disclosure data at the city level. Applying a generalized propensity score (GPS) method, we find that the relationship between environmental information disclosure and environmental concern is an inverted U-shaped relationship. Environmental information disclosure appears to have its highest impact on public environmental concern when its intensity is between 65 and 70. Besides, through an instrumental variable (IV) approach, we document that with a 1% increase in environmental information disclosure, public environmental concern can increase by 1.7%. Further mechanism analysis shows that environmental information disclosure affects public environmental concern by enhancing people's environmental risk perception and environmental knowledge.