Air pollution as a cause of sleeplessness: Social media evidence from a panel of Chinese cities

Anthony Heyes and Mingying Zhu

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2019, vol. 98, issue C

Abstract: We provide first evidence of a link from daily air pollution exposure to sleep loss in a panel of Chinese cities. We develop a social media-based, city-level metric for sleeplessness, and bolster causal claims by instrumenting for pollution with plausibly exogenous variations in wind patterns. Estimates of effect sizes are substantial and robust. In our preferred specification a one standard deviation increase in AQI causes an 11.6% increase in sleeplessness, and for PM2.5 is 12.8%. The results sustain qualitatively under OLS estimation but are attenuated. The analysis provides a previously unaccounted for benefit of more stringent air quality regulation. It also offers a candidate mechanism in support of recent research that links daily air quality to diminished workplace productivity, cognitive performance, school absence, traffic accidents, and other detrimental outcomes.

Keywords: Air pollution; Social costs; IV methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (56)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:98:y:2019:i:c:s0095069618303814

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2019.07.002

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