IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v163y2023ics0304387823000342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information, migration, and the value of clean air

Author

Listed:
  • Gao, Xuwen
  • Song, Ran
  • Timmins, Christopher

Abstract

Using a variant of the Rosen-Roback model of inter-city migration that incorporates public access to air quality information, we demonstrate that information constraints create a wedge between revealed and true hedonic prices for pollution that depends upon individuals’ perception biases. We empirically test our theoretical predictions by leveraging the unexpected disclosure of PM2.5 data in China. We find that migration decisions become much more responsive to pollution and that the hedonic price of avoiding PM2.5 exposure nearly doubles – from 171 to 336 Chinese Yuan – in response to the information shock. Our results highlight the role of imperfect information in migration decisions and its impact on non-market valuation in countries where public access to information is restricted.

Suggested Citation

  • Gao, Xuwen & Song, Ran & Timmins, Christopher, 2023. "Information, migration, and the value of clean air," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:163:y:2023:i:c:s0304387823000342
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103079
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387823000342
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103079?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph E. Aldy & W. Kip Viscusi, 2008. "Adjusting the Value of a Statistical Life for Age and Cohort Effects," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 573-581, August.
    2. Stephan Heblich & Alex Trew & Yanos Zylberberg, 2021. "East-Side Story: Historical Pollution and Persistent Neighborhood Sorting," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1508-1552.
    3. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Démurger, Sylvie & Li, Shi & Wang, Jianguo, 2020. "Unequal migration and urbanisation gains in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    4. Koichiro Ito & Shuang Zhang, 2020. "Willingness to Pay for Clean Air: Evidence from Air Purifier Markets in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(5), pages 1627-1672.
    5. Bryan, Gharad & Morten, Melanie, 2019. "The aggregate productivity effects of internal migration: evidence from Indonesia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88177, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Trevor Tombe & Xiaodong Zhu, 2019. "Trade, Migration, and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis of China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1843-1872, May.
    7. Freeman, Richard & Liang, Wenquan & Song, Ran & Timmins, Christopher, 2019. "Willingness to pay for clean air in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 188-216.
    8. Panle Jia Barwick & Shanjun Li & Liguo Lin & Eric Yongchen Zou, 2024. "From Fog to Smog: The Value of Pollution Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(5), pages 1338-1381, May.
    9. Patrick Bayer & Fernando Ferreira & Robert McMillan, 2007. "A Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(4), pages 588-638, August.
    10. Riley Wilson, 2021. "Moving to Jobs: The Role of Information in Migration Decisions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 1083-1128.
    11. Chen Yuyu & Jin Ginger Zhe & Kumar Naresh & Shi Guang, 2012. "Gaming in Air Pollution Data? Lessons from China," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 1-43, December.
    12. Gaurav Khanna & Wenquan Liang & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Ran Song, 2021. "The Productivity Consequences of Pollution-Induced Migration in China," NBER Working Papers 28401, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Chauvin, Juan Pablo & Glaeser, Edward & Ma, Yueran & Tobio, Kristina, 2017. "What is different about urbanization in rich and poor countries? Cities in Brazil, China, India and the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 17-49.
    14. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    15. Blomquist, Glenn C & Berger, Mark C & Hoehn, John P, 1988. "New Estimates of Quality of Life in Urban Areas," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 89-107, March.
    16. Michael Greenstone & B. Kelsey Jack, 2015. "Envirodevonomics: A Research Agenda for an Emerging Field," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(1), pages 5-42, March.
    17. Gordon B. Dahl, 1997. "Mobility and the Returns to Education: Testing A Roy Model With Multiple Markets," Working Papers 760, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    18. Hersch, Joni, 1998. "Compensating Differentials for Gender-Specific Job Injury Risks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 598-627, June.
    19. Viscusi, W Kip, 1993. "The Value of Risks to Life and Health," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 1912-1946, December.
    20. Roback, Jennifer, 1982. "Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1257-1278, December.
    21. Edward L. Glaeser & Joshua D. Gottlieb, 2009. "The Wealth of Cities: Agglomeration Economies and Spatial Equilibrium in the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(4), pages 983-1028, December.
    22. Bayer, Patrick & Keohane, Nathaniel & Timmins, Christopher, 2009. "Migration and hedonic valuation: The case of air quality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-14, July.
    23. Ghanem, Dalia & Zhang, Junjie, 2014. "‘Effortless Perfection:’ Do Chinese cities manipulate air pollution data?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 203-225.
    24. David Albouy, 2008. "Are Big Cities Bad Places to Live? Estimating Quality of Life across Metropolitan Areas," NBER Working Papers 14472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Chen, Shuai & Oliva, Paulina & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The effect of air pollution on migration: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    26. Gordon B. Dahl, 2002. "Mobility and the Return to Education: Testing a Roy Model with Multiple Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(6), pages 2367-2420, November.
    27. Gharad Bryan & Melanie Morten, 2019. "The Aggregate Productivity Effects of Internal Migration: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(5), pages 2229-2268.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dragana Cvijanović & Lyndsey Rolheiser & Alex Van de Minne, 2024. "Commercial real estate and air pollution," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 951-989, May.
    2. Michael J. Seiler & Liuming Yang, 2023. "Gun‐ownership disclosure and localized home prices," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(6), pages 1399-1436, November.
    3. Bilbao-Terol, Amelia & Bilbao-Terol, Celia, 2024. "The Choquet integral supported by a hedonic approach for modelling preferences in hotel selection," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    4. Frohnweiler, Sarah & Beber, Bernd & Ebert, Cara, 2024. "Information frictions, belief updating and internal migration: Evidence from Ghana and Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Guo, Rufei & Zhang, Junsen & Zhou, Minghai, 2024. "The demography of the great migration in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Qian, Ruoyu, 2024. "Communist propaganda and women’s status," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    7. Behrer,Arnold Patrick & Choudhary,Rishabh & Sharma,Dhruv, 2023. "Air Pollution Reduces Economic Activity: Evidence from India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10515, The World Bank.
    8. Wang, Kunlun & Yao, Hongjiang, 2024. "How environmental information is capitalized into the housing market? Evidence from China's National Ambient Air Quality Standards," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wenquan Liang & Ran Song & Christopher Timmins, 2020. "Frictional Sorting," NBER Working Papers 27643, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Freeman, Richard & Liang, Wenquan & Song, Ran & Timmins, Christopher, 2019. "Willingness to pay for clean air in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 188-216.
    3. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Albouy, David & Lue, Bert, 2015. "Driving to opportunity: Local rents, wages, commuting, and sub-metropolitan quality of life," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 74-92.
    5. Shi, Tie & Zhu, Wenzhang & Fu, Shihe, 2021. "Quality of life in Chinese cities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Xing, Chunbing & Zhang, Junfu, 2017. "The preference for larger cities in China: Evidence from rural-urban migrants," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 72-90.
    7. Sinha, Paramita & Caulkins, Martha & Cropper, Maureen, 2021. "The value of climate amenities: A comparison of hedonic and discrete choice approaches," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. Hamilton, Timothy L. & Phaneuf, Daniel J., 2015. "An integrated model of regional and local residential sorting with application to air quality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 71-93.
    9. Selod, Harris & Shilpi, Forhad, 2021. "Rural-urban migration in developing countries: Lessons from the literature," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Sinha, Paramita & Caulkins, Martha L. & Cropper, Maureen L., 2018. "Household location decisions and the value of climate amenities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 608-637.
    11. J. Vernon Henderson & Matthew A. Turner, 2020. "Urbanization in the Developing World: Too Early or Too Slow?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 150-173, Summer.
    12. Frohnweiler, Sarah & Beber, Bernd & Ebert, Cara, 2024. "Information frictions, belief updating and internal migration: Evidence from Ghana and Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    13. Tao Lin & Wenhao Qian & Hongwei Wang & Yu Feng, 2022. "Air Pollution and Workplace Choice: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-23, July.
    14. Bieri, David S. & Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Pope, Jaren C., 2023. "National expenditures on local amenities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    15. Paramita Sinha & Martha Caulkins & Maureen Cropper, 2018. "Do Discrete Choice Approaches to Valuing Urban Amenities Yield Different Results Than Hedonic Models?," NCEE Working Paper Series 201804, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
    16. Patrick Bayer & Shakeeb Khan & Christopher Timmins, 2008. "Nonparametric Identification and Estimation in a Generalized Roy Model," NBER Working Papers 13949, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Bishop, Kelly C. & Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Mathes, Sophie M. & Murphy, Alvin D., 2024. "The marginal cost of mortality risk reduction: Evidence from housing markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Xuan Huang & Bruno Lanz, 2018. "The Value of Air Quality in Chinese Cities: Evidence from Labor and Property Market Outcomes," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(4), pages 849-874, December.
    19. Zhang, Junfu & Zheng, Liang, 2014. "Are Ghettos Good or Bad? Evidence from U.S. Internal Migration," IZA Discussion Papers 8093, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. David Albouy & Walter Graf & Ryan Kellogg & Hendrik Wolff, 2016. "Climate Amenities, Climate Change, and American Quality of Life," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 205-246.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information; Migration; Particulate matter; Rosen-Roback; Compensating differential;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:163:y:2023:i:c:s0304387823000342. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.