Thanks for the write up, super informative and interesting. I’m an undergrad tentatively planning on writing my undergraduate economics thesis on air pollution, perhaps focusing on indoor air pollution. In my previous informal research I gathered that air pollution wasn’t cost effective relative to other EA interventions, as you conclude above. The problem is compounded by the fact that that those use indoor open fires for cooking, and are therefore typically the most impacted by indoor air pollution, are often lacking access to electricity and therefore supplying air filtration devices becomes significantly more expensive and complicated (Citation needed).
One line of research that I’m particularly interested in is focusing on the cognitive impacts of air pollution. Given previous EA arguments on the value of increasing worldwide IQ and the high estimated value of increased IQ to the economy, incorporating the cognitive impacts of air pollution into any cost-effectiveness estimate seems important. This is obviously difficult to measure, and there is only preliminary research on the cognitive impacts of air pollution, mostly in the form of test scores, which don’t necessarily translate easily into IQ points. One particularly interesting working paper on indoor air pollution is Gilraine 2020 which exploits a natural experiment that put air filters in a subset of schools of the LA unified school district and finds some gains in test scores because of it. Another potentially cost effective education related air pollution intervention is retrofitting highly polluting diesel school buses in the US, as seen in Beatty and Shimshack 2011. If I recall correctly, both papers offer rough cost-effectiveness estimates as it relates to student achievement that may be helpful.
I didn’t have time to write up a full post, so apologies for not being totally thorough. Would be interested in collaborating!
Thanks for the write up, super informative and interesting. I’m an undergrad tentatively planning on writing my undergraduate economics thesis on air pollution, perhaps focusing on indoor air pollution. In my previous informal research I gathered that air pollution wasn’t cost effective relative to other EA interventions, as you conclude above. The problem is compounded by the fact that that those use indoor open fires for cooking, and are therefore typically the most impacted by indoor air pollution, are often lacking access to electricity and therefore supplying air filtration devices becomes significantly more expensive and complicated (Citation needed).
One line of research that I’m particularly interested in is focusing on the cognitive impacts of air pollution. Given previous EA arguments on the value of increasing worldwide IQ and the high estimated value of increased IQ to the economy, incorporating the cognitive impacts of air pollution into any cost-effectiveness estimate seems important. This is obviously difficult to measure, and there is only preliminary research on the cognitive impacts of air pollution, mostly in the form of test scores, which don’t necessarily translate easily into IQ points. One particularly interesting working paper on indoor air pollution is Gilraine 2020 which exploits a natural experiment that put air filters in a subset of schools of the LA unified school district and finds some gains in test scores because of it. Another potentially cost effective education related air pollution intervention is retrofitting highly polluting diesel school buses in the US, as seen in Beatty and Shimshack 2011. If I recall correctly, both papers offer rough cost-effectiveness estimates as it relates to student achievement that may be helpful.
I didn’t have time to write up a full post, so apologies for not being totally thorough. Would be interested in collaborating!
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/is-air-pollution-affecting-your-productivity-in-the-office/