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Winds of Fire and Smoke: Air Pollution and Health in the Brazilian Amazon

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  • Rudi Rocha
  • André Sant’Anna

Abstract

In this paper we assess the effects of fire-related air pollution on population health in the Brazilian Amazon. Our empirical strategy is based on a municipality-by-month fixed effects model, coupled with an instrumental variables approach that explores wind direction and air pollution in surrounding areas in order to exogenously shift exposure to air pollution at the locality. We find that exposure to air pollution, measured by PM2.5 concentration levels, is robustly associated with an increase in hospital admissions for respiratory conditions. The effects are higher among children and the elderly, and increase non-linearly with pollution levels. Our benchmark estimates indicate that an increase of one standard deviation in PM2.5 is related to an increase of 1.5% of the monthly hospitalization rate for respiratory conditions. The latter estimate reaches 14% if monthly average PM2.5 crosses thresholds as high as 75 μg/m3. We do not observe significant effects on hospitalization rates related to other health conditions nor on mortality rates.
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Suggested Citation

  • Rudi Rocha & André Sant’Anna, 2020. "Winds of Fire and Smoke: Air Pollution and Health in the Brazilian Amazon," Working Papers 07, Instituto de Estudos para Políticas de Saúde.
    • Handle: RePEc:amc:wpaper:07
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Yayun Ren & Jian Yu & Guanglai Zhang & Chang Zhang & Wenmei Liao, 2023. "The Short- and Long-Run Impacts of Air Pollution on Human Health: New Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Brooks, Nina & Biswas, Debashish & Hossin, Raduan & Yu, Alexander & Saha, Shampa & Saha, Senjuti & Saha, Samir K. & Luby, Stephen P., 2023. "Health consequences of small-scale industrial pollution: Evidence from the brick sector in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Wu, Kelly Yuexuan, 2023. "Potential respiratory health benefits of tropical forest protection: Do Indonesian deforestation restrictions reduce fires (and smoke)?," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335930, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Araujo, Rafael & Costa, Francisco J M & Garg, Teevrat, 2022. "Public Attention and Environmental Action: Evidence from Fires in the Amazon," SocArXiv xj3f6, Center for Open Science.
    5. Fonseca Morello, Thiago, 2023. "Hospitalization due to fire-induced pollution in the Brazilian Amazon: A causal inference analysis with an assessment of policy trade-offs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fires; air pollution; health outcomes; Amazon;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • 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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