When the Fields Burn: The Hidden Costs of Agricultural Fires on Children's Education

Lihini de Silva, Rafat Mahmood () and Sundar Ponnusamy
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Lihini de Silva: Monash University Australia
Rafat Mahmood: Monash University
Sundar Ponnusamy: Deakin University Australia

No 18977, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Agricultural residue burning releases pollutants that prevailing winds carry across administrative boundaries. We study the effects of fire-driven pollution on the cognitive development and educational trajectories of around 700,000 children aged 5--16 in Pakistan, combining satellite-derived burned area data, wind direction, and nationally representative learning assessments. Our treatment measure captures fires within 15 kilometers of a child's district that burn upwind; comparable downwind fires, which reflect the same agricultural activity but carry smoke away from the child, serve as a placebo. A one standard deviation increase in upwind fire exposure reduces test scores in mathematics, reading, and English by roughly 0.02 standard deviations; downwind fires have no effect. Impacts are concentrated in the school term, with no effect from summer-holiday fires. Boys and girls suffer similar cognitive losses, but over time older girls face higher dropout, consistent with lower perceived returns to female education in a patrilocal society, and child labor rises. The results survive extensive robustness checks. Agricultural burning is thus a constraint on human capital development, not only a public health issue.

Keywords: agricultural fires; air pollution; cognitive development; child labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J13 O12 Q53 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-neu
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