Air Pollution and Mental Health: Evidence from China / Shuai Chen, Paulina Oliva, Peng Zhang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chen, Shuai.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Oliva, Paulina.

Zhang, Peng.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24686.

NBER working paper series no. w24686

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Air Pollution and Mental Health

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

A large body of literature estimates the effect of air pollution on health. However, most of these studies have focused on physical health, while the effect on mental health is limited. Using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) covering 12,615 urban residents during 2014 - 2015, we find significantly positive effect of air pollution - instrumented by thermal inversions - on mental illness. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation (18.04 μg/m3) increase in average PM2.5 concentrations in the past month increases the probability of having a score that is associated with severe mental illness by 6.67 percentage points, or 0.33 standard deviations. Based on average health expenditures associated with mental illness and rates of treatment among those with symptoms, we calculate that these effects induce a total annual cost of USD 22.88 billion in health expenditures only. This cost is on a similar scale to pollution costs stemming from mortality, labor productivity, and dementia.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2018.