The Effects of Wildfire and Distant Air Pollution on Household Financial Well-Being

Xudong An, Stuart Gabriel and Nitzan Tzur-Ilan

No 26-02, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Abstract: While exposure to wildfire smoke is adverse to human health, little is known about related impacts on household economics. In this paper, we link granular wildfire burn, smoke plume, air pollution, and consumer credit data to estimate the impact of extreme wildfire and related dispersed air pollution effects on consumer financial health. We find material effects including increased credit card and personal loan delinquencies among households distant from the burn perimeter but exposed to high levels of pollution. Further analysis of confidential supervisory data reveals elevated spending and indebtedness among pollution-treated households, which corroborates and explains the delinquency findings. Finally, we present evidence of health spending and work disruption channels of smoke effects. Findings indicate that the adverse effects of extreme wildfires are salient to substantial dispersed populations, including those distant from the fire zone.

Keywords: Wildfires; Air Pollution; Consumer Credit; Financial Distress; Health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 G5 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61
Date: 2026-01-15
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/FRBP/Asset ... ers/2026/wp26-02.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedpwp:102335

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2026.02

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Beth Paul ().