Self-aggravation effect of air pollution: Evidence from residential electricity consumption in China

With the deterioration of air quality and increasing awareness of the adverse health impacts of air pollution, more people choose to stay indoors and take up various pollution mitigation measures under heavy air pollution. This study contends that these activities entail extraneous electricity consumption, which in turn further exacerbates air quality. We investigate this self-aggravation of air pollution based on the electricity usage of a panel of Chinese households. Our analyses suggest that Chinese households' electricity consumption tends to increase with the severity of heavy air pollution. Our results are shown to be robust across various model specifications, sample configurations and alternative air quality indicators. We also show that the self-aggravation effects are more pronounced for households (i) located in the northern China; (ii) with high consumption capacity and/or located in urban areas; (iii) with vulnerable members such as elderly or preschoolers.