The Causal Effects of Long-Term PM2.5 Exposure on COVID-19 in India

Takahiro Yamada, Hiroyuki Yamada and Muthukumara S. Mani

No 9543, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This study investigates the causal effects of long-term particulate matter 2.5 exposure on COVID-19 deaths, fatality rates, and cases in India by using an instrumental variables approach based on thermal inversion episodes. The estimation results indicate that a 1 percent increase in long-term exposure to particulate matter 2.5 leads to an increase in COVID-19 deaths by 5.7 percentage points and an increase in the COVID-19 fatality rate by 0.027 percentage point, but this exposure is not necessarily correlated with COVID-19 cases. People with underlying health conditions such as respiratory illness caused by exposure to air pollution might have a higher risk of death following SARS-CoV-2 infection. This finding might also apply to other countries where high levels of air pollution are a critical issue for development and public health.

Keywords: Brown Issues and Health; Pollution Management&Control; Air Quality&Clean Air; Health Care Services Industry; Law and Justice Institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-02-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The causal effects of long-term PM2.5 exposure on COVID-19 in India (2021)
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