Urban Pollution: A Global Perspective

Rainald Borck and Philipp Schrauth

No 10171, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We use worldwide satellite data to analyse how population size and density affect urban pollution. We find that density significantly increases pollution exposure. Looking only at urban areas, we find that population size affects exposure more than density. Moreover, the effect is driven mostly by population commuting to core cities rather than the core city population itself. We analyse heterogeneity by geography and income levels. By and large, the influence of population on pol-lution is greatest in Asia and middle-income countries. A counterfactual simulation shows that PM2.5 exposure would fall by up to 36% and NO2 exposure up to 53% if within countries population size were equalized across all cities.

Keywords: population density; air pollution; gridded data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q53 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-res, nep-sea and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Urban pollution: A global perspective (2024)
Working Paper: Urban pollution: A global perspective (2022)
Working Paper: Urban pollution: A global perspective (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10171

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