American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Subways and Urban Air Pollution
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 14,
no. 1, January 2022
(pp. 164–96)
Abstract
We investigate the effect of subway system openings on urban air pollution. On average, particulate concentrations are unchanged by subway openings. For cities with higher initial pollution levels, subway openings reduce particulates by 4 percent in the area surrounding a city center. The effect decays with distance to city center and persists over the longest time horizon that we can measure with our data, about four years. For highly polluted cities, we estimate that a new subway system provides an external mortality benefit of about $1 billion per year. For less polluted cities, the effect is indistinguishable from zero. Back of the envelope cost estimates suggest that reduced mortality due to lower air pollution offsets a substantial share of the construction costs of subways.Citation
Gendron-Carrier, Nicolas, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Stefano Polloni, and Matthew A. Turner. 2022. "Subways and Urban Air Pollution." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 14 (1): 164–96. DOI: 10.1257/app.20180168Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- L92 Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O18 Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
- Q51 Valuation of Environmental Effects
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- R41 Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise