Air pollution and mental health: Evidence from China Health and Nutrition Survey

Using the mental health data of the elderly in China Health and Nutrition Survey and city-level air pollution data, this paper empirically analyzes the influence of air pollution on the mental health of the elderly. Results show that with the aggravation of air pollution, the mental health of the elderly decreases significantly. Specifically, a 10 μg/m³ increase in air pollution causes a decrease of 2.43 points in mental health. Air pollution has a greater effect on males, rural residents, and low-income and low-education groups. In addition, this paper tests two mechanisms, namely, health status and individual activity, and finds that air pollution can reduce mental health by increasing the incidence and severity of disease. Moreover, the intensification of air pollution leads the elderly to prefer indoor activities. Based on individual data, this paper estimates the health effects of air pollution, which provides a basis for the formulation of environmental and health policies.     

新装修居民住宅氨污染因子的浓度衰减规律研究

选取氨作为室内空气污染因子的监测指标,采用次氯酸钠-水杨酸分光光度法测定随机抽取的山西省高平市新装修居民住宅室内空气中的氨浓度,并对监测数据进行了统计分析,得出高平市新装修居民住宅空气中氨污染因子的状况。探讨了高平市新装修居民住宅空气中氨污染因子的浓度衰减规律,提出了新装修完成的住宅居室内氨空气污染因子的控制对策。     

Does Air Pollution Affect Consumption Behavior? Evidence from Korean Retail Sales*

Using monthly regional panel data on air quality and large retail store sales in Korea, we empirically examine the effect of air pollution on retail sales. We account for regional heterogeneity in air pollution and control for various macroeconomic and climatic factors that can affect retail sales. We also use the air quality indicator in the west coastal islands (affected by trans‐border pollution but uncorrelated with the economic activity in the mainland) as an instrumental variable. The estimation results show that, in general, 1 additional day of PM₁₀ level higher than 80 μg/m³ reduces monthly retail sales by approximately 0.1 percent. Nonetheless, an adaptive pattern emerges over time, particularly when the level of air pollution in the previous month was severe.     

Light pollution,sleep deprivation,and infant health at birth

We conduct the first study to examine the fetal health impact of light pollution based on a direct measure of skyglow, an important aspect of light pollution. Using an empirical regularity discovered in physics (called Walker's law) as an instrumental variable, we address the potential endogeneity problem associated with the skyglow variable. We find evidence of reduced birth weight, shortened gestational length, and increases in preterm births. Specifically, increased nighttime brightness, characterized by being able to see only one‐fourth to one‐third of the stars that are visible in the natural unpolluted night sky, is associated with an increase of 1.48 percentage points in the likelihood of a preterm birth. Our study adds to the literature on the impact of early‐life exposure to pollution, which so far has focused primarily on air pollution. Our study has important policy implications regarding the necessity of minimizing skyglow that is, for example, contributed by streetlights.     

环境质量与中国城市发展沉浮:人力资本视角的解释

环境质量日益成为影响中国城市品质和高质量发展的重要因素。本文采用中国人口普查、夜间灯光和基于卫星反演的大气污染等数据,分析空气污染引致人力资本选择性流动,进而带来的城市长期经济增长效应。结果发现,空气污染并没有显著影响城市人口规模变化,但是降低了城市经济增速和增长质量。以PM_2.5和SO₂为代表的空气污染导致城市大学及以上学历人口显著流出,进而带来城市人均夜间灯光亮度值和GDP增长率的下降。本文进一步基于“两控区”政策,反向论证了环境规制政策能够带来空气质量改善,从而减缓高人力资本的流出,促进经济增长。本文从经验上分析了环境规制、环境质量、经济增长之间的关系,也为中国城市兴衰格局提供了一个基于环境视角的解释。     

Identifying the effects of migration on parental health: Evidence from left-behind elders in China

This study pioneers the application of the New Economics of Labor Migration theory to outline and estimate two opposite effects of labor loss driven by the migration and remittances of adult children on the health of left-behind elderly parents through the changing rural market constraints. We use China's rural household survey data and simultaneous equation econometric techniques to estimate the effects of migration on the physical and mental health of left-behind elders. Results indicate that the loss of labor due to migration has a significantly negative effect on the health of left-behind elders, but remittances from migrants can compensate for the adverse effect. This study provides a comprehensive understanding that remittances from migration relax the constraints on household resource allocations in undeveloped rural areas with imperfect market conditions. Overall, left-behind elderly parents benefit from migrant children both physically and mentally.     

地区腐败对空气质量影响的空间效应研究

选取2000—2018年中国30个省份作为样本,运用空间自相关检验验证空气质量的空间相关性,并构建固定效应空间杜宾模型探究地区腐败对空气质量影响的空间效应。研究结果表明：地区腐败会加剧本地区空气污染,会降低邻接地区的PM2.5浓度;工业污染排放量、对外开放程度、能源消费量增加均会加剧本地区和邻近地区空气质量恶化;经济发展效率会降低本地区空气污染程度,高质量的经济发展会促进空气质量好转     

The effects of exposure to high temperatures during pregnancy on adolescent mental health: Evidence from China

This paper provides the first study to explore the relationship between exposure to ambient temperatures during pregnancy and adolescent mental health in China. The results show that experiencing one more hot day relative to local historical contemporaneous average values during pregnancy significantly increases the likelihood of mental health disorders in adolescence. The impact is larger in the first and second trimesters. Individuals born in the northern region and whose mothers work in agriculture are more vulnerable to high temperatures. Prenatal exposure to hot days is more harmful to the mental health of older adolescents. Additionally, the adverse effects are similar for both men and women and individuals with rural and urban hukou. Biological effects, income effects, and human capital accumulation might be three operative channels of the impact. These findings add to the evidence on the lasting health effects of early life exposure to climatic shocks and call for policy interventions during pregnancy.     

Responsible Behavior of Irresponsible Companies: Air Pollution and Charitable Donations of Polluting Companies

The relationship between air pollution and charitable donations of companies has received little attention from academia. To make up for this defect, we use a regression discontinuity design based on the spatial discontinuity in air pollution created by China's winter heating policy in the north of Qinling Mountains–Huai River line to examine whether severe air pollution may cause polluting companies to make charitable donations. Our results consistently show that air pollution has a positive impact on the donations of polluting companies, regardless of whether the absolute donations, the relative donations, or the willingness to donate are used to measure donations. A series of robustness tests confirm that this relationship is causal. Furthermore, we find that under severe air pollution, the motivations of polluting companies to implement donation behaviors are to decrease the probability of environmental penalties, reduce environmental pollution costs, and decrease the extent to which air pollution affects company reputations.     

投入50亿元以奖代罚治理六省市大气污染的绩效探讨

在大气污染治理中,经济利益与环保压力、防治与排污之间的博弈,影响着大气污染治理的绩效.过去的环保政策和治理行为表明：逐利博弈下,环保治理“罚”得很困窘,防治污染的效果不大.只有设计出多重激励下的“奖”励政策,才会产生很好的大气污染治理绩效.     

Comparative Advantage,Trade, and Transboundary Pollution

It is common for studies on trade and environment issues to model trade patterns as driven by environmental considerations. Under conditions of trade liberalization, these studies predict the rise of pollution havens and an increase in global pollution. The extant empirical literature, however, gives only mixed support at best for the notion that trade patterns are influenced by environmental issues. We develop a simple model to investigate whether trade based on traditional comparative advantage may lead to increased global pollution. We find that trade may lead to increased global pollution if both trading nations exhibit increasing marginal disutilities of pollution.     

贫困是否影响农村中老年人的精神健康——基于CHARLS数据的实证研究

农村老年人在经济上是最为弱势的群体,他们的贫困发生率远远高于城市老人。贫困不仅体现为物质上的剥夺,更会引起认知退化和抑郁等精神健康上的问题。文章使用中国健康与养老追踪调查数据,实证考察经济状况对农村中老年人精神健康的影响。多层线性模型估计结果表明：家庭人均年收入每提高一千元,反映认知状况的情景记忆显著提高0.132分、精神状态显著提高0.121分,而反映抑郁程度的CES-D则显著下降0.293分。进一步分析表明,收入对精神健康的促进作用对高收入者更大。考虑到农村更加严重的老龄化程度,通过减贫实现农村中老年人精神健康状况的改善将具有重要的现实意义。     

石家庄市AQI数据研究分析

目前,以京津冀为代表,我国超过2/3的城市空气质量不达标,已进入大范围生态退化和复合性环境污染的阶段。通过对石家庄空气质量指数污染物为SO2、NO2、PM10、PM2.5、O3、CO观测,利用SPSS Statistics研究了PM2.5,SO2,NO2,CO,O3与AQI之间相关关系和回归性。用这种方法分析大气污染综合指标,有利于问题的分析与处理,为大气污染浓度及预测提供了相关依据。     

Longing for the Blue Sky: Urban air quality and the individual decision to immigrate

Based on China Migrants Dynamic Survey data and the air quality data from China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, we empirically investigated whether immigration decision-making is associated with urban air quality. The empirical results from the Logit model revealed ‘vote by foot’ rule in the immigration decision in China, implying migrants commonly attempt to move to cities with good air quality. We additionally found that among determinants of immigration, air quality was inferior to GDP, industrial structures, wages, and public services. We also observed heterogenous impacts of urban air quality on the individual decision to immigrate by gender, age, education, and migration patterns. Specifically, migrants in female and elderly groups have a stronger desire for good urban air quality, whereas those with high education level have a lower desire for the same. Moreover, urban air pollution decreased the probability of interprovincial migration. Rural migrants were less affected by urban air pollution when immigrating to cities. We finally put forward policy implications to balance labour forces migration and economic development.     

Economic impact of 2015 transboundary haze on Singapore

We quantify and estimate the economic impact of the transboundary haze pollution in 2015 on Singapore following reliable quantitative methods and techniques in cost-benefit analysis. We include in the estimation both tangible and intangible costs associated to haze pollution. Specifically, in the estimation of the tangible costs of haze, the estimation includes (1) adverse impacts of haze on health, (2) loss in tourism, (3) loss in business as an indirect effect from loss of tourist receipts, (4) productivity loss due to restricted activity days and (5) cost of mitigation and adaptation by government agencies and households. For the estimation of the intangible costs, the value is derived from the contingent valuation study of Quah et al., 2018 which was conducted in 2018 to estimate Singapore residents’ willingness to pay for a pro-environment collaboration project that could effectively stop “slash and burn” practices and significantly reduce the annual haze pollution issue. The total cost of the 2015 haze episode on Singapore which lasted for 2 months is estimated at S$1.83 billion, amounting to 0.45 % of the country’s gross domestic product. Accordingly, the total tangible cost is estimated at S$1.46 billion equivalent to 0.36 % of GDP while the total intangible cost stands at S$0.36 billion equivalent to 0.09 % of GDP. The findings have important implications for public policy.     

农作物秸秆的综合利用

近年来秸杆燃烧引起了严重的季节性大气污染，而秸秆是一种可再生资源，可以通过秸秆还田、用作饲料、秸秆制气等方法加以利用，既创造了一定的经济价值和社会效益，又避免了露天燃烧等引起的环境污染问题。     

隔代照料孙子女对中老年人心理健康的影响研究

使用 2013 年中国健康与养老追踪调查(CHARLS)数据，以抑郁情况与生活满意度作为 心理健康的代理指标，探讨隔代照料孙子女对中老年人心理健康的影响，为克服由于自我选择所 产生的内生性问题，进一步运用倾向得分匹配法分析隔代照料孙子女对中老年人心理健康的影响。 研究结果表明，我国 51.7% 的中老年人提供隔代照料;提供隔代照料对中老年人心理健康有显著 的改善作用;隔代照料孙子女对男性、农业户口、未达到退休年龄中老年人影响更为显著;此外， 对影响路径的分析表明，提供隔代照料会通过显著增加人们参加社交活动的可能性以及参加社交 活动的频率来改善心理健康。     

中国区域污染治理成本的差异性与影响因素研究

要实现经济与环境协调发展,必须使各省市能够对本地区的环境污染治理成本进行核算,衡量经济生产活动和环境污染治理.但目前由于自然资源要素界定不统一、实物量数据收集不全面等问题,缺乏全国性的环境治理成本分析.选择中国30个省、市大气环境污染等数据,采取环境治理成本法核算各地区污染治理成本并分析其差异性,以其中差异最为显著的NO x为例,对影响其单位治理成本的因素进行研究.结果发现,能源强度、第二产业比重、对外开放程度与NO x的单位治理成本呈正相关,清洁能源的利用程度呈负相关.NO x单位治理成本与其排放强度呈现显著的"U"形关系.因此,在进行环境污染治理措施时,不能一味地消除污染、减少排放,而是要根据实际情况,衡量污染治理带来的负担,调整能源强度、能源消费结构、对外开放程度等因素,降低污染物单位治理成本,减少污染治理成本,实现经济可持续发展.     

Invisible enemy: The health impact of ozone

China has exerted great efforts in the past decades to fight against particulate matters and has achieved initial results, but ozone pollution has increased significantly. Using a unique diagnostic data of a peninsula city in China, this study evaluates the health effect of ozone pollution on emergency room admission and medical expenditure. We present strong evidence that ozone has a significant negative impact on health. Specifically, one standard deviation increase in ozone pollution will result in an additional 3.30, 2.25, and 4.94 weekly emergency room admissions in respiratory, ophthalmology, and internal medicine. Our analysis of medical expenditure implies that one standard deviation increase of ozone pollution generates a 5.89 million yuan increase of annual medical expenditure for a representative city. We further show that land wind, sunny weather, and dense roads significantly moderate the adverse health effects of ozone. Our findings offer a timely reminder for policymakers to pay attention to “invisible” ozone pollution while managing particulate pollution.     

Does air pollution influence music sentiment? Measuring music sentiment by machine learning

Air pollution has imposed significant negative effects on individuals’ well-being, including citizens’ sentiment levels. To test this claim, we investigate the impact of air pollution on Chinese urbanites’ music sentiments. The analysis is based on a unique dataset of high-frequency music consumption records from a music platform in China from October 13th, 2019 to January 7th, 2020. Using machine learning algorithms, songs on this platform are divided into cheerful songs, melancholy songs and other categories, by which a music sentiment index (MSI) is generated at city-daily level. By matching MSI and daily air quality, this study finds that the MSI declines during highly polluted days, indicating that: on highly polluted days, citizens tend to enjoy melancholy songs over cheerful ones. In addition, this effect becomes more remarkable when the Air Quality Index (AQI) score is above 200, a critical point for “heavily polluted” and “severely polluted” days.