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The Impact of Air Pollution on Labor Supply in China

Author

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  • Mingxuan Fan

    (Department of Real Estate, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119245, Singapore)

  • Corbett Grainger

    (Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
    Centre for Climate and Energy Transition, Universitetet i Bergen, 5007 Bergen, Norway
    CESifo, 81679 München, Germany)

Abstract

A growing body of literature demonstrates that air pollution has negative impacts on human health, cognitive ability, and labor productivity, but little is known about the effect of chronic air pollution on labor supply decisions. We use restricted-access individual-level panel data from the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS), paired with sub-district level remote-sensing estimates of air pollution, to evaluate the impact of chronic exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) on an individual’s hours worked. We exploit within-individual changes in air pollution, and fixed effects estimates indicate that an increase of 1 μ g/m 3 in PM 2.5 reduces an individual’s average hours worked by about 14 min per week. We then leverage the city-level roll-out of air pollution monitoring and information provision to test hypotheses about the underlying mechanisms. We show that individuals with poor health respond to changes in PM 2.5 the most. For individuals who are environmentally unaware, this effect is mostly through an impact of pollution on health, while individuals who are environmentally aware engage in avoidance behavior. Finally, the roll-out of monitoring and information provision at the city level plays an important role in raising awareness and individuals’ responsiveness to pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Mingxuan Fan & Corbett Grainger, 2023. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Labor Supply in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13082-:d:1229101
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lingdi Zhao & Minghui Lu & Haixia Wang, 2024. "Research on the Effect of the Healthy Cities Pilot Policy on the Labor Supply Time of Middle-Aged and Elderly Workers in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Chuanwang Zhang & Guangsheng Zhang, 2024. "How Does Air Pollution Impact Residence Intention of Rural Migrants? Empirical Evidence from the CMDS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Ye, Hai-Jian & Huang, Zuhui & Chen, Shuai, 2023. "Air pollution and agricultural labor supply: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

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