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Air Pollution and Student Achievement: Evidence from Africa

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  • Singh, Tejendra Pratap
  • Mtenga, Erica

Abstract

Using novel data on students' performance on national exams administered during secondary schooling in Tanzania, we study how air pollution exposure on the day of the exam affects student performance on these exams. To uncover causal effects, we leverage plausibly exogenous changes in local wind direction in an Instrumental Variables (IV) setup. Our IV estimates imply that an increase in PM2.5 concentration by 10 µg/m3 on the day a student appears for the exam worsens their performance on the exam by 0.06 standard deviations. Our results are robust to a host of falsification checks. We also document that the effects are more pronounced for younger students, males, students appearing for exams in government schools, and those at the lower end of the achievement distribution. Further, we find that these effects could be driven by adverse effects of air pollution on exams that test fluid intelligence.

Suggested Citation

  • Singh, Tejendra Pratap & Mtenga, Erica, 2022. "Air Pollution and Student Achievement: Evidence from Africa," OSF Preprints nm9dx, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:nm9dx
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/nm9dx
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tatyana Deryugina & Garth Heutel & Nolan H. Miller & David Molitor & Julian Reif, 2019. "The Mortality and Medical Costs of Air Pollution: Evidence from Changes in Wind Direction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(12), pages 4178-4219, December.
    2. Avraham Ebenstein & Victor Lavy & Sefi Roth, 2016. "The Long-Run Economic Consequences of High-Stakes Examinations: Evidence from Transitory Variation in Pollution," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 36-65, October.
    3. Andrea La Nauze & Edson Severnini, 2025. "Air Pollution and Adult Cognition: Evidence from Brain Training," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 221-255.
    4. Andrea La Nauze & Edson Severnini, 2025. "Air Pollution and Adult Cognition: Evidence from Brain Training," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 221-255.
    5. Meredith Fowlie & Edward Rubin & Reed Walker, 2019. "Bringing Satellite-Based Air Quality Estimates Down to Earth," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 283-288, May.
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