IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v96y2026ics1043951x26000143.html

Information, pollution, and cognition: The impact of air pollution disclosure on aging minds

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Shaohui
  • Yin, Ge
  • Zhang, Xin

Abstract

This study is among the first to examine the impact of a pollution information disclosure (PID) program on the cognitive abilities of middle-aged and elderly individuals in a developing country. Leveraging China's rollout of PID as a quasi-natural experiment and using nationally representative survey data, we find that the adoption of PID mitigates the adverse effect of PM2.5 exposure on cognitive performance by 53.01%. This effect is enhanced by increased awareness of pollution risks and changes in health-related behaviors. Moreover, the impact is more pronounced among men, younger individuals, those with higher levels of education and income, internet users, and individuals living with their children.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Shaohui & Yin, Ge & Zhang, Xin, 2026. "Information, pollution, and cognition: The impact of air pollution disclosure on aging minds," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:96:y:2026:i:c:s1043951x26000143
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2026.102664
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X26000143
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2026.102664?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

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    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:chieco:v:96:y:2026:i:c:s1043951x26000143. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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/chieco .

    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.