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Happiness and air pollution

In: Handbook on Wellbeing, Happiness and the Environment

Author

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  • Arik Levinson

Abstract

The author poses three questions: Does pollution make people unhappy? By how much? And is the effect proportional to pollution’s estimated effects on mortality and productivity? Answers to those three questions must overcome three obstacles: unobserved characteristics of locales correlated with both pollution and happiness; selection by pollution-averse individuals to less-polluted areas; and habituation by residents to local circumstances. Since 2010, when the initial few studies relating happiness to pollution were last surveyed, 30 more have been published. The author discusses how the new studies tackle each of those three problems and devises a method of comparing their findings despite their different measures of both happiness and pollution. The author combines the happiness and income coefficients from each study into a willingness-to-pay measure, for a one-day, one-standard-deviation pollution reduction. Finally, the author documents a surprising concordance between those calculated willingness-to-pay measures and new research assessing the effects of pollution on mortality and productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Arik Levinson, 2020. "Happiness and air pollution," Chapters, in: David Maddison & Katrin Rehdanz & Heinz Welsch (ed.), Handbook on Wellbeing, Happiness and the Environment, chapter 9, pages 164-182, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:18339_9
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    Cited by:

    1. Jones, Benjamin A., 2021. "Planting urban trees to improve quality of life? The life satisfaction impacts of urban afforestation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    2. Heiko Rüger & Stefanie Hoherz & Norbert F. Schneider & Herbert Fliege & Maria M. Bellinger & Brenton M. Wiernik, 2023. "The Effects of Urban Living Conditions on Subjective Well-Being: The Case of German Foreign Service Employees," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1939-1963, August.
    3. Alnafrah, Ibrahim & Belyaeva, Zhanna, 2024. "The nonlinear road to happiness: Making sense of ESGD impacts on well-being," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 365-381.
    4. Sanduijav, Chimedregzen & Ferreira, Susana & Filipski, Mateusz & Hashida, Yukiko, 2021. "Air pollution and happiness: Evidence from the coldest capital in the world," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    5. Mammadli, Rashad & Gigliarano, Chiara, 2024. "Does pro-environmental consumption contribute to subjective well-being? Empirical evidence from Italy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Hortas-Rico, Miriam & Rodríguez-Crespo, Ernesto, 2025. "How does women's political empowerment relate to subjective well-being? The moderating role of institutional quality," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    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
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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