Air Pollution and the Labor Market: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke / Mark Borgschulte, David Molitor, Eric Zou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Borgschulte, Mark.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Molitor, David.

Zou, Eric.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w29952.

NBER working paper series no. w29952

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2022.

Summary:

We study how air pollution impacts the U.S. labor market by analyzing effects of drifting wildfire smoke that can affect populations far from the fires themselves. We link satellite smoke plumes with labor market outcomes to estimate that an additional day of smoke exposure reduces quarterly earnings by about 0.1 percent. Extensive margin responses, including employment reductions and labor force exits, can explain 13 percent of the overall earnings losses. The implied welfare cost of lost earnings due to air pollution exposure is on par with standard valuations of the mortality burden. The findings suggest that labor market channels warrant greater consideration in policy responses to air pollution.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2022.