Clean Air and Cognitive Productivity: Effect and Adaptation

Nikolai Cook, Anthony Heyes, Nicholas Rivers ()
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Nikolai Cook, Anthony Heyes, Nicholas Rivers: Wilfrid Laurier University, https://sites.google.com/site/nikolaimcook/home

LCERPA Working Papers from Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis

Abstract: We observe 1.8 million university course grades for 88,959 adults who learn and complete examinations in a much less polluted environment than previously studied. We use a within-student identification strategy and find robust evidence of a negative and causal effect of exam-day outdoor air pollution on course performance. The effect of pollution persists beyond the same-day effect. Female students are more sensitive than males, and effects greatest when engaged in unfamiliar tasks. We explore two mar- gins of adaptation, one infrastructural, one behavioral. Working in a new building, and particularly if it is high quality (LEED Gold), provides significant mitigation. Relocating to a floor above ground-level also offers partial protection.

Keywords: air pollution; cognitive function; particulate matter; productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61
Date: 2023-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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