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Coal Use and Student Performance

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  • Duque, Valentina
  • Gilraine, Michael

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of air pollution from power production on students’ cognitive outcomes. To do so, we leverage variation in power production over time, wind patterns, and plant closures. We find that each one million megawatt hours of coal-fired power production decreases student performance in schools within ten kilometers by 0.02 SD and 0.01 SD in math and English, respectively. We find no such relationship for gas-fired plants. Extrapolating our results nationwide indicates that the decline in coal use in the United States from 2007 through 2018 increased student performance by 0.003 SD and reduced the black-white test score gap by 0.002 SD.

Suggested Citation

  • Duque, Valentina & Gilraine, Michael, 2020. "Coal Use and Student Performance," Working Papers 2020-07, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:syd:wpaper:2020-07
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fukushima, Nanna, 2021. "The UK Clean Air Act, Black Smoke, and Infant Mortality," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 587, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Michael Gilraine & Angela Zheng, 2022. "Air Pollution and Student Performance in the U.S," Department of Economics Working Papers 2022-02, McMaster University.

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    Keywords

    Air Pollution; Coal Power; Education; Health.;
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