 Dust storms and human well-beingResource and Energy Economics, 2023, vol. 72, issue C Abstract: Dust storms are extreme weather events that can lead to sharp short-duration reductions in environmental quality. Is the US and elsewhere, dust storms are becoming more frequent due to climate change and altered land-use patterns. However, our present understanding of their impacts to social welfare is limited. To address this gap, I undertake the first nationwide US study of dust storm impacts on subjective well-being using life satisfaction (LS) data from the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) over 2005–2010. I find that LS is lower by 0.008 points on a 4-point scale on days when a dust storm occurred in a respondent’s county-of-residence, as identified by the National Weather Service. The observed LS impact is precisely estimated; occurring only on a dust storm event day and not the days immediately before or after. I calculate that individuals are willing-to-pay $111 to avoid a single dust storm event day, on the basis of the estimated well-being externality. I also show that public dust storm alerts on event days can offset more than 50% of the negative LS effect, suggestive of an important role for public risk communication. Keywords: Dust storms; Subjective well-being; Public warnings; Extreme weather; PM2.5 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:resene:v:72:y:2023:i:c:s0928765523000179 DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2023.101362 Access Statistics for this article Resource and Energy Economics is currently edited by J. F. Shogren and S. Smulders More articles in Resource and Energy Economics from Elsevier |
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