Competing with clean air: Pollution disclosure and college desirability

Xinming Du

Ecological Economics, 2023, vol. 204, issue PA

Abstract: Starting in 2013, China’s pollution information disclosure program raised public awareness of air quality. This study seeks to analyze the impact of information disclosure on college desirability. To that end, I assemble a comprehensive dataset on admission scores for all colleges in China for eight years. In an event study setting, I find pollution information increases cutoff scores for colleges in clean cities by 0.3% for the arts track and 0.6% for the science track, equivalent to 20 thousand and 30 thousand high school graduates per year. While first- and second-tier colleges see large and robust effects, third-tier colleges are not affected by this amenity information shock. The effect is more prominent for journalism, economics and environment-related majors. My findings confirm the importance of environmental information and are consistent with people’s avoidance behavior against pollution.

Keywords: Air pollution; Information disclosure; School preferences; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 I20 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:204:y:2023:i:pa:s0921800922002920

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107631

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