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Air Pollution and Student Performance in the U.S

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  • Michael Gilraine
  • Angela Zheng

Abstract

We combine satellite-based pollution data and test scores from over 10,000 U.S. school districts to estimate the relationship between air pollution and test scores. To deal with potential endogeneity we instrument for air quality using (i) year-to-year coal production variation and (ii) a shift-share instrument that interacts fuel shares used for nearby power production with national growth rates. We find that each one-unit increase in particulate pollution reduces test scores by 0.02 standard deviations. Our findings indicate that declines in particulate pollution exposure raised test scores and reduced the black-white test score gap by 0.06 and 0.01 standard deviations, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Gilraine & Angela Zheng, 2022. "Air Pollution and Student Performance in the U.S," Department of Economics Working Papers 2022-02, McMaster University.
  • Handle: RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2022-02
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    File URL: http://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ/rsrch/papers/archive/2022-02.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Avila Uribe, Antonio, 2023. "The effect of air pollution on US aggregate production," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118481, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Pham, Linh & Roach, Travis, 2023. "Particulate pollution and learning," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    air pollution; education; coal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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