This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. American Economic Review
  4. Forthcoming Articles
  5. The Long-run Effect of Air Pollution on Survival

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

The Long-run Effect of Air Pollution on Survival

  • Julian Reif
  • Tatyana Deryugina
American Economic Review (Forthcoming)

Abstract

Many environmental hazards have long-run health effects, but quasi-experimental studies typically measure outcomes and treatment over short time periods. We develop a new framework for quantifying the effect of air pollution exposure on life expectancy. Using daily changes in wind direction as an instrument for air pollution, we first charac- terize the dynamic mortality effects of short-run exposure. We then incorporate these estimates into a demographic model to quantify the lifelong effects of a permanent re- duction in air pollution exposure. Ninety percent of the survival benefits accrue after the first fifty years of life.

Downloads