IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v68y2025i4d10.1007_s00181-024-02688-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air pollution and morbidity: evidence from internet search behavior in a panel of 100 Chinese cities

Author

Listed:
  • Mingying Zhu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Anthony Heyes

    (University of Birmingham)

Abstract

We provide linear and nonparametric estimates of the causal impact of short-term exposure to polluted air on the prevalence of cough in a panel of a hundred Chinese cities. In our central estimate, which exploits plausibly exogenous variations in the number of upwind agricultural fires burning in the vicinity as an instrument, we find that a one standard deviation increase in airborne pollution causes a roughly 6% increase in the prevalence of cough in the affected city. Among pollutants, the effect can be tied specifically to particulate matter ( $$PM_{2.5}$$ P M 2.5 ). The results prove resilient in a series of robustness tests and falsification exercises.

Suggested Citation

  • Mingying Zhu & Anthony Heyes, 2025. "Air pollution and morbidity: evidence from internet search behavior in a panel of 100 Chinese cities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 1893-1934, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:68:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s00181-024-02688-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-024-02688-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-024-02688-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00181-024-02688-8?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.

    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:spr:empeco:v:68:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s00181-024-02688-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.