The Effect of Air Pollution on Mortality in China: Evidence from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Guojun He, Maoyong Fan () and Maigeng Zhou ()
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Maigeng Zhou: National Center for Chronic and Noncommunicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

No 2015-03, HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series from HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies

Abstract: By exploiting exogenous variation in air quality during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, we estimate the effect of air pollution on mortality in China. We find that a 10-μg/m^3 (roughly 10%) decrease in PM_10 concentrations reduces monthly standardized all-cause mortality by 6.63%. The mortality reduction during the Olympics is mainly driven by fewer cardiocerebrovascular and respiratory deaths. Extrapolating our results to all urban areas in China, we estimate that the economic benefits from averted pre-mature deaths would range from 380 billion to 6 trillion Yuan annually if PM_10 concentrations were reduced to the WHO guideline level of 20 μg/m^3.

Keywords: air pollution; mortality; particulate matter; 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 I18 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2015-01, Revised 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-hea and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of air pollution on mortality in China: Evidence from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hku:wpaper:201503

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