IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/7448.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effect of metro expansions on air pollution in Delhi

Author

Listed:
  • Goel,Deepti
  • Gupta,Sonam

Abstract

The Delhi Metro (DM) is a mass rapid transit system serving the National Capital Region of India. It is also the world?s first rail project to earn carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations for reductions in CO2 emissions. Did the DM also lead to localized reduction in three transportation source pollutants? Looking at the period 2004?2006, one of the larger rail extensions of the DM led to a 34 percent reduction in localized CO at a major traffic intersection in the city. Results for NO2 are also suggestive of a decline, while those for PM25 are inconclusive due to missing data. These impacts of pollutant reductions are for the short run. A complete accounting of all long run costs and benefits should be done before building capital intensive metro rail projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Goel,Deepti & Gupta,Sonam, 2015. "The effect of metro expansions on air pollution in Delhi," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7448, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7448
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/10/19/090224b08315372c/1_0/Rendered/PDF/The0effect0of00r0pollution0in0Delhi.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    2. Lucas W. Davis, 2008. "The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(1), pages 38-81, February.
    3. Eva Arceo & Rema Hanna & Paulina Oliva, 2016. "Does the Effect of Pollution on Infant Mortality Differ Between Developing and Developed Countries? Evidence from Mexico City," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(591), pages 257-280, March.
    4. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    5. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    6. Tanaka, Shinsuke, 2015. "Environmental regulations on air pollution in China and their impact on infant mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 90-103.
    7. Currie, Janet & Neidell, Matthew & Schmieder, Johannes F., 2009. "Air pollution and infant health: Lessons from New Jersey," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 688-703, May.
    8. Arkadipta Ghosh & Arnab Mukherji, 2014. "Air Pollution and Respiratory Ailments among Children in Urban India: Exploring Causality," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(1), pages 191-222.
    9. Janet Currie & Reed Walker, 2011. "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 65-90, January.
    10. repec:emc:wpaper:dte-546 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Enrico Moretti & Matthew Neidell, 2011. "Pollution, Health, and Avoidance Behavior: Evidence from the Ports of Los Angeles," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(1), pages 154-175.
    12. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    13. Eva Olimpia Arceo Gómez & Rema Hanna & Paulina Oliva, 2012. "Does the Effect of Pollution on Infant Mortality Differ Between Developed and Developing Countries? Evidence from Mexico City," Working Papers DTE 546, CIDE, División de Economía.
    14. Yihsu Chen & Alexander Whalley, 2012. "Green Infrastructure: The Effects of Urban Rail Transit on Air Quality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 58-97, February.
    15. Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2010. "The Needs of the Army: Using Compulsory Relocation in the Military to Estimate the Effect of Air Pollutants on Children’s Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(3).
    16. Winston, Clifford & Maheshri, Vikram, 2007. "On the social desirability of urban rail transit systems," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 362-382, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dasgupta,Susmita & Lall,Somik V. & Wheeler,David, 2020. "Traffic, Air Pollution, and Distributional Impacts in Dar es Salaam : A Spatial Analysis with New Satellite Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9185, The World Bank.
    2. Cui, Yin & Li, Zhiyong & Sun, Yu & Sun, Weizheng, 2023. "Environmental performance of an urban passenger transport system and influencing factors: A case study of Tianjin, China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Borck, Rainald & Mulder, Peter, 2024. "Energy policies and pollution in two developing country cities: A quantitative model," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    4. Li, Shanjun & Wang, Binglin & Zhou, Hui, 2024. "Decarbonizing passenger transportation in developing countries: Lessons and perspectives1," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Valeriia Budiakivska & Luca Casolaro, 2018. "Please in my back yard: the private and public benefits of a new tram line in Florence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1161, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Cropper, Maureen & Suri, Palak, 2024. "Measuring the air pollution benefits of public transport projects," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Yanez-Pagans, Patricia & Martinez, Daniel & Mitnik, Oscar A. & Scholl, Lynn & Vazquez, Antonia, 2018. "Urban Transport Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges and Lessons Learned," IZA Discussion Papers 11812, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Patricia Yañez-Pagans & Daniel Martinez & Oscar A. Mitnik & Lynn Scholl & Antonia Vazquez, 2019. "Urban transport systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: lessons and challenges," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 28(1), pages 1-25, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Guojun & Fan, Maoyong & Zhou, Maigeng, 2016. "The effect of air pollution on mortality in China: Evidence from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 18-39.
    2. Li, Shanjun & Liu, Yanyan & Purevjav, Avralt-Od & Yang, Lin, 2019. "Does subway expansion improve air quality?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 213-235.
    3. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Tran, Trang My & Yu, Lamont Bo, 2023. "Green infrastructure and air pollution: Evidence from highways connecting two megacities in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    4. Deepti Goel & Sonam Gupta, 2013. "Delhi Metro and Air Pollution," Working papers 229, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    5. Viard, V. Brian & Fu, Shihe, 2015. "The effect of Beijing's driving restrictions on pollution and economic activity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 98-115.
    6. Beatty, Timothy K.M. & Shimshack, Jay P., 2014. "Air pollution and children's respiratory health: A cohort analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 39-57.
    7. Gillingham, Kenneth & Huang, Pei, 2021. "Racial disparities in the health effects from air pollution: Evidence from ports," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-058, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Alastair Ball, 2018. "The Long-Term Economic Costs of the Great London Smog," Birkbeck Working Papers in Economics and Finance 1814, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
    9. Resul Cesur & Erdal Tekin & Aydogan Ulker, 2017. "Air Pollution and Infant Mortality: Evidence from the Expansion of Natural Gas Infrastructure," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(600), pages 330-362, March.
    10. Ball, Alastair, 2014. "Air pollution, foetal mortality, and long-term health: Evidence from the Great London Smog," MPRA Paper 63229, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Mar 2015.
    11. Stefania Lovo & Samantha Rawlings, 2021. "Garbage in, garbage out: the impact of e-waste dumping sites on early child health," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2021-07, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    12. Cheung, Chun Wai & He, Guojun & Pan, Yuhang, 2020. "Mitigating the air pollution effect? The remarkable decline in the pollution-mortality relationship in Hong Kong," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    13. Stefania Lovo & Samantha B. Rawlings, 2022. "The Health Burden of E-Waste: The Impact of E-Waste Dumping Sites on Child Mortality," CESifo Working Paper Series 9916, CESifo.
    14. Kang, Cheolmin & Ota, Mitsuru & Ushijima, Koichi, 2024. "Benefits of diesel emission regulations: Evidence from the World's largest low emission zone," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Yihsu Chen & Alexander Whalley, 2012. "Green Infrastructure: The Effects of Urban Rail Transit on Air Quality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 58-97, February.
    16. Chen, Shiyi & Jiang, Lingduo & Liu, Wanlin & Song, Hong, 2022. "Fireworks regulation, air pollution, and public health: Evidence from China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    17. Rafael Lalive & Simon Luechinger & Armin Schmutzler, 2013. "Does Supporting Passenger Railways Reduce Road Traffic Externalities?," ECON - Working Papers 110, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    18. Wang, Yangjie & Chen, Xiaohong & Ren, Shenggang, 2019. "Clean energy adoption and maternal health: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Timothy J Halliday & John Lynham & Áureo de Paula, 2019. "Vog: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Health Costs of Particulates," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(620), pages 1782-1816.
    20. Chen, Siyu & Guo, Chongshan & Huang, Xinfei, 2018. "Air Pollution, Student Health, and School Absences: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 465-497.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air Quality&Clean Air; Pollution Management&Control; Transport Economics Policy&Planning; Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases; Brown Issues and Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:7448. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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.