Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality

Garth Heutel and Christopher Ruhm

No 13-7, UNCG Economics Working Papers from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics

Abstract: Prior research demonstrates that mortality rates increase during economic booms and decrease during economic busts, but little analysis has been conducted investigating the role of environmental risks as potential mechanisms for this relationship. We investigate the contribution of air pollution to the procyclicality of deaths by combining state-level data on overall, cause-specific, and age-specific mortality rates with state-level measures of ambient concentrations of three types of pollutants and the unemployment rate. After controlling for demographic variables and state and year fixed-effects, we find a significant positive correlation between carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations and mortality rates. Controlling for CO, particulate matter (PM10), and ozone (O3) attenuates the relationship between overall mortality and the unemployment rate by 30 percent. The attenuation is particularly large, although imprecisely measured, for fatalities from respiratory diseases and is frequently substantial for age groups unlikely to be involved in the labor market. Our results are consistent with those of other studies in the economics and public health literatures measuring the mortality effects of air pollution.

Keywords: Pollution; Health; Mortality; Business Cycles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 I10 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 pages
Date: 2013-04-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-hea and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Journal Article: Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality (2016)
Working Paper: Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:uncgec:2013_007

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