The Effects of Air Pollution on Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Chile

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. Terms of use: Documents inThe unauthorized commercial use of Bank documents is prohibited and may be punishable under the Bank's policies and/or applicable laws.Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank. This working paper may be reproduced for any non-commercial purpose. It may also be reproduced in any academic journal indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, with previous consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. Cataloging-in-Publication 2013 AbstractIn addition to the morbidity and mortality concerns of outdoor air pollution, studies have shown that air pollution also generates problems for childrens cognitive performance and human capital formation. High concentrations of pollutants can affect children's learning process by exacerbating respiratory illnesses, fatigue, absenteeism and attention problems. The purpose of this work is to analyze the possible contemporary effects of P M 10 and other different air pollutants on standardized test scores in Chile. It examines results for 3,880 schools in the Metropolitan, Valparaiso and O'Higgins regions for children in fourth, eight and tenth grades between 1997 and 2012. Data for particulate matter (P M 10 and P M 2.5 ), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (N O x ) and ozone (O 3 ) were interpolated at school level using a kriging methodology. The results suggest that higher annual P M 10 and O 3 levels are clearly associated with a reduction in test scores. Nonetheless, as of 2012 many municipalities in these Chilean regions are still exceeding the annual P M 10 international standard quality norm (50 micrograms per cubic meter) by 15 micrograms per cubic meter on average. Efforts to reduce pollution below this norm in the most polluted municipalities would account for improvements in reading and math test scores of 3.5 percent and 3.1 percent of a standard deviation, respectively.JEL classification: I250, H23, Q51, Q530.

The Effects of Traffic Air Pollution in and around Schools on Executive Function and Academic Performance in Children: A Rapid Review

“…Six of the studies focussed exclusively on primary aged children up to 11 years of age, with two of these studies including participants as young as 6. Two studies included some older students, up to 13 years and 16 years [ 39 , 40 ]. One final study measured overall school performance of ‘K–12′ schools, which covers ages 5–18 [ 41 ].…”

“…Quality scores ranged from two to seven, with an average of 4.6 (see Table 2 ). Seven papers were rated as low quality [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 51 ]. One paper was rated as average quality [ 43 ].…”

“…Miller and Vela [ 40 ] looked at grade-level test results using a standardised test in Chile. They found that annual estimates of PM 10 , but not PM 2.5 , significantly predicted test scores; a 10% decrease in PM 10 was estimated to increase maths scores by 0.16% and reading scores by 0.14%.…”

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