Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making

Xi Chen

No 11921, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Cognitive functioning is critical as in our daily life a host of real-world complex decisions in high-stakes markets have to be made. The decision-making process can be vulnerable to environmental stressors. Summarizing the growing economic and epidemiologic evidence linking air pollution, cognition performance and real-world decision making, we first illustrate key physiological and psychological pathways between air pollution and cognition. We then document the main patterns of air pollution affecting cognitive test performance by type of cognitive tests, gender, window of exposure, age profile, and educational attainment. We further extend to a review of real-world decision making that has been found to be affected by air pollution and the resulting cognitive impairments. Finally, rich implications on environmental health policies are drawn based on existing evaluations of social costs of air pollution.

Keywords: cognitive performance; air pollution; decision making; intelligence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G11 G41 I24 J24 Q51 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2018-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-neu and nep-res
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2019, 8 (2), 76 - 80

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Working Paper: Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making (2018)
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