Severe Air Pollution and Labor Productivity: Evidence from Industrial Towns in China

Abstract

We examine day-to-day fluctuations in worker-level output at two manufacturing sites in China. Ambient fine-particle (PM2.5) pollution is severe but significantly variable, largely due to exogenous atmospheric ventilation. We obtain an insignificant immediate output response from concurrent (same-shift) variation in particle pollution. We then allow worker outcomes to respond to day-to-day variation in pollution with up to 30 days of delay. We uncover statistically significant adverse output effects from more prolonged exposure, but effects are not large. A substantial + 10 μg/m3 PM2.5 variation sustained over 25 days reduces daily output by 1 percent. (JEL J24, O13, P23, P25, P28, Q51, Q53)

Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?

“…Columns (5) through (6) of Table 5 indicate that those who did not finish nine-year mandatory education are affected more. Results presented in Columns (1) through (2) of Table 6 confirm that air pollution imposes larger impact on hedonic happiness of people working outdoors, though recent evidence suggests that outdoor air pollution even reduce indoor worker productivity (Chang et al 2014, 2016; He, Liu, and Salvo 2016). People living in more polluted areas could be more (or less) sensitive to air pollution than those in less polluted areas, depending on whether the dose-response relationship (or habituation or self-selection into areas of poor air quality) dominates.…”

“…API ranges from 0 to 500, and a larger API value indicates worse air quality. Evidence suggests that fine particulate matter is detrimental to health and human capital (Cohen et al 2005; Ebenstein et al 2016) and is of high concentration in China (He, Liu, and Salvo 2016). Daily observations of API come from the city-level air quality report published by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China.…”

Valuing Air Quality Using Happiness Data: The Case of China

“…While those working outdoors are exposed to more ambient air pollution, recent studies show that finer particulates can penetrate into a building and lead to a decline in indoor workers’ productivity (Chang et al 2014; He, Liu, and Salvo 2016). Panel C of Table 5 lists the estimates on outdoor and indoor workers separately.…”

Ambient air pollution and human performance: Contemporaneous and acclimatization effects of ozone exposure on athletic performance

“…measures, and exposure levels. Recent work has linked exposure to ozone with reductions in the productivity of agricultural workers (Graff Zivin & Neidell, 2012), whereas increased levels of ambient particulate matter have been linked to reductions in the performance of warehouse workers (Chang, Graff Zivin, Gross, & Neidell, 2016a), call center staffers (Chang, Zivin, Gross, & Neidell, 2016b), industrial workers (He, Liu, & Salvo, 2016), soccer players (Lichter, Pestel, & Sommer, 2017), and possibly participants in equity markets (Heyes, Neidell, & Saberian, 2016). Together, these findings suggest that air pollution imposes significant societal costs through channels beyond those measurable via administrative mortality and morbidity outcomes.…”