Post-materialism in Times of Crisis? The Perception of the Environmental Issue among European Citizens

In times of crisis, the economy defines the citizens' priorities and affects the national systems they live in. The economic crisis that hit Europe in 2008 continues to influence citizens as well as political systems: the governments are often forced to funding cuts affecting the quality of life of citizens and their welfare. What are the effects that the economy produces on the perception that European citizens attribute to environmental policies? In this paper, we adopt a diachronic perspective (2009-2013) analyzing some macroeconomic indicators, gathered by World Bank, and different information on public opinion, collected by Eurobarometer data. Through a multilevel model, we test different hypotheses to estimate the effects that these variables have on the importance that citizens attributed to environmental issues. The main results show that even in time of crisis the perceptions of the citizens on environment have not changed.