Air pollution and innovation

Felix Bracht and Dennis Verhoeven

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: Existing estimates of the economic costs of air pollution do not account for its effect on inventive output. Using two weather phenomena as instruments, we estimate this effect in a sample of 1,288 European regions. A decrease in exposure to small particulate matter of 0.17µg/m3 - the average yearly reduction in Europe - leads to 1.7% more patented inventions. After ruling out reallocation of human capital, inventor mortality and R&D expenditures as drivers of the effect, we conclude that air pollution's harm to economic output increases by at least 10% when accounting for innovation.

Keywords: air pollution; air quality; innovation; patent; productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-gro and nep-ino
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1817.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Air pollution and innovation (2025)
Working Paper: Air pollution and innovation (2021)
Working Paper: Air Pollution and Innovation (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1817

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