From low emission zone to academic track: Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school

Johannes Brehm, Nico Pestel, Sandra Schaffner and Laura Schmitz

No 980, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: Low Emission Zones (LEZs) reduce local air pollution by restricting emission-intensive vehicles from accessing designated areas and have been shown to improve population health. Little is known about the effects of driving restriction policies on other areas of life. This paper studies the effects of LEZs on the educational achievements of elementary school students in Germany, measured by secondary-school transition rates. Using school-level data from North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), Germany's largest federal state, we exploit the staggered adoption of LEZs since 2008 in a difference-indifferences framework. Our results imply that LEZs increased rates of transition to the academic track by 0.9-1.6 percentage points in NRW. Our findings on the district level for all of Germany confirm the external validity of these findings. Using geo-referenced data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we provide suggestive evidence that a reduction in the prevalence of respiratory infections is a vital channel through which LEZs affect schooling outcomes.

Keywords: Low emission zone; education; air quality; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J24 Q52 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-eur and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:980

DOI: 10.4419/96973145

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