IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jaerec/doi10.1086-742218.html

Noise and Learning: Evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Arzi Adbi
  • Sumit Agarwal
  • Pulak Ghosh

Abstract

Despite high noise pollution, empirical research on the impact of noise on learning in developing economies has been sparse. We investigate this question by analyzing spatial and temporal variation in noise pollution recorded by monitoring stations in India and academic performance in high-stakes Class 12 examinations across schools. We find that a 10-percentage-point increase in noisy days during the exam quarter is associated with a 2.3% increase in the failure rate of Class 12 boys. This pattern is not gender neutral, as no association between noise pollution and failure rate is observed for girls. We do not find any effect of noise pollution recorded during non-exam months. By documenting how noise pollution hinders learning in India and shedding light on cognitive burden explanation, our study highlights an overlooked threat to human capital accumulation in developing economies and underscores the importance of integrating noise pollution mitigation strategies into education and urban policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Arzi Adbi & Sumit Agarwal & Pulak Ghosh, 2026. "Noise and Learning: Evidence from India," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(6), pages 1437-1464.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/742218
    DOI: 10.1086/742218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/742218
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/742218
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/742218?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

    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:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/742218. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JAERE .

    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.