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Pollution and Politician Productivity: The Effect of PM on MPs

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony Heyes
  • Nicholas Rivers
  • Brandon Schaufele

Abstract

Applying methods of textual analysis to all 119,225 speeches made in the Canadian House of Commons between 2006 and 2011, we establish that air pollution reduces the speech quality of Canadian members of parliament (MPs). Exposure to fine particulate matter concentrations exceeding 15 µg/m3 causes a 2.3% reduction in the quality of MPs’ speech (equivalent to a 2.6 month decrease in education). For more difficult communication tasks the decrement in quality is equivalent to the loss of 6.5 months of schooling. Our design accounts for the potential endogeneity of exposure and controls for many potential confounders including individual fixed effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony Heyes & Nicholas Rivers & Brandon Schaufele, 2019. "Pollution and Politician Productivity: The Effect of PM on MPs," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 95(2), pages 157-173.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:95:y:2019:i:2:p:157-173
    Note: DOI: 10.3368/le.95.2.157
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Cook, Nikolai & Heyes, Anthony, 2022. "Pollution pictures: Psychological exposure to pollution impacts worker productivity in a large-scale field experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    2. Wang, Chunchao & Lin, Qianqian & Qiu, Yun, 2022. "Productivity loss amid invisible pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Jingnan Chen & Miguel A. Fonseca & Anthony Heyes & Jie Yang & Xiaohui Zhang, 2023. "How Much Will Climate Change Reduce Productivity in a High-Technology Supply Chain? Evidence from Silicon Wafer Manufacturing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(3), pages 533-563, November.
    4. Aloys Prinz & David J. Richter, 2021. "Feinstaubbelastung und Lebenserwartung in Deutschland," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 15(3), pages 237-272, December.
    5. Lohmann, Paul M. & Gsottbauer, Elisabeth & You, Jing & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2023. "Air pollution and anti-social behaviour: Evidence from a randomised lab-in-the-field experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    6. Ron Chan & Martino Pelli & Veronica Vienne, 2023. "Air Pollution, Smoky Days and Hours Worked," CIRANO Working Papers 2023s-15, CIRANO.
    7. Wang, Chunchao & Lin, Qianqian & Qiu, Yun, 2020. "Productivity Loss amid Invisible Pollution," GLO Discussion Paper Series 722, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Bellani, Luna & Ceolotto, Stefano & Elsner, Benjamin & Pestel, Nico, 2021. "Air Pollution Affects Decision-Making: Evidence from the Ballot Box," IZA Discussion Papers 14718, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Luis Sarmiento & Adam Nowakowski, 2023. "Court Decisions and Air Pollution: Evidence from Ten Million Penal Cases in India," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(3), pages 605-644, November.
    10. Luis Sarmiento, 2022. "Air pollution and the productivity of high‐skill labor: evidence from court hearings," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(1), pages 301-332, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • 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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