How are you doing today? Air quality and subjective well-being across time and space in Germany

Almut Balleer, Michael Hirsch and Marvin Nöller

No 1164, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: We present evidence that air pollution negatively affects current well-being. To do so, we create a new dataset, matching particulate matter concentration at the exact day and location with individual-level survey responses about current life satisfaction. The panel structure of our data allows us to overcome several identification challenges in the literature. Additionally, we show how aggregation of air pollution across time and space mis-measures the relevant exposure. Our results further suggest that air pollution affects current well-being mostly through negative emotions like sadness or worry. We estimate the willingness to pay for clean air that refers to the direct, immediate effects of air pollution and can be mapped well to economic models.

Keywords: Subjective well-being; air pollution; willingness to pay; compensating variation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I31 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-hea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:324660

DOI: 10.4419/96973349

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