Hierarchical government environmental confidence and willingness to pay for environmental protection: evidence from urban–rural China

Introduction Public willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental protection is a key indicator of societal readiness to bear the costs of environmental governance. However, the role of citizens’ confidence in government environmental performance at different hierarchical levels remains largely unexplored. This study introduces the concept of hierarchical government environmental confidence into WTP research, examining how citizens’ differential evaluations of central versus local government enviro