TY - JOUR
T1 - The multinational and heterogeneous burden of air pollution on well-being
AU - Yerema, Coulibaly Thierry
AU - Managi, Shunsuke
N1 - Funding Information:
This research is supported by the following Grant in Aid from JSPS KAKENHI (Grant No. JP20H00648) and also the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan (Grant No. JPMEERF20201001 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/10/10
Y1 - 2021/10/10
N2 - Air pollution is a global issue, but data availability has restricted research on its impact on well-being to primarily individual and developed countries. Owing to this lack of data, there is no consensus on the factors influencing the impact of air pollution on well-being across countries. Thus, this paper aims to provide an inclusive view onto the heterogeneous impact of pollution on well-being with regard to income based on a sample of 30 countries. With monthly nitrogen dioxide changes monitored by satellite data, we estimate how individual and national income influence the impact of air pollution on the well-being of respondents to an international survey. To identify the burden of pollution on well-being, we focus on the impact of monthly changes in pollution induced by monthly changes in planetary boundary layers’ height, via an instrumental variable strategy. Within countries, we find that air pollution reduces the well-being of low-income individuals and people living in highly polluted areas to a greater extent than that of others. Thus, it appears that populations in developing countries and countries with high income inequality suffer the highest burden of air pollution on their well-being than those in developed countries and countries with low income inequality. However, populations in highly polluted countries and highly productive countries are the least affected by pollution. These results show that using an economic index to assess distress associated with pollution is inappropriate for addressing its heterogeneous burden. Furthermore, habituation to pollution by populations in highly polluted countries may threaten international collaboration for pollution reduction.
AB - Air pollution is a global issue, but data availability has restricted research on its impact on well-being to primarily individual and developed countries. Owing to this lack of data, there is no consensus on the factors influencing the impact of air pollution on well-being across countries. Thus, this paper aims to provide an inclusive view onto the heterogeneous impact of pollution on well-being with regard to income based on a sample of 30 countries. With monthly nitrogen dioxide changes monitored by satellite data, we estimate how individual and national income influence the impact of air pollution on the well-being of respondents to an international survey. To identify the burden of pollution on well-being, we focus on the impact of monthly changes in pollution induced by monthly changes in planetary boundary layers’ height, via an instrumental variable strategy. Within countries, we find that air pollution reduces the well-being of low-income individuals and people living in highly polluted areas to a greater extent than that of others. Thus, it appears that populations in developing countries and countries with high income inequality suffer the highest burden of air pollution on their well-being than those in developed countries and countries with low income inequality. However, populations in highly polluted countries and highly productive countries are the least affected by pollution. These results show that using an economic index to assess distress associated with pollution is inappropriate for addressing its heterogeneous burden. Furthermore, habituation to pollution by populations in highly polluted countries may threaten international collaboration for pollution reduction.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128530
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128530
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111744241
VL - 318
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
SN - 0959-6526
M1 - 128530
ER -