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Air Pollution, Student Health, and School Absences: Evidence from China

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  • Chen, Siyu
  • Guo, Chongshan
  • Huang, Xinfei

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of air pollution on school children in developing countries. This paper aims to fill this gap by quantifying the causal effects of air pollution on the health status and the school attendance of the Chinese students. We relate the arguably exogenous daily variation in air pollution-instrumented by the occurrence of temperature inversion-with student illnesses and absences from more than 3000 schools in Guangzhou City. We find a sizable deleterious effect of air pollution on school attendance through the health channel. The impact persists for at least four days and displays a monotonically increasing pattern. Notably, this harmful effect is non-negligible even when pollution levels are below the official standards for air quality in China, suggesting that the current ambient air quality standards in China are not low enough to protect students.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Siyu & Guo, Chongshan & Huang, Xinfei, 2018. "Air Pollution, Student Health, and School Absences: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 465-497.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:92:y:2018:i:c:p:465-497
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2018.10.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air pollution; Student health; School absences; China; Air quality standards;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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