Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/124914 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9399
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper uses the 1918 influenza pandemic as a natural experiment to examine whether air pollution affects susceptibility to infectious disease. The empirical analysis combines the sharp timing of the pandemic with large cross-city differences in baseline pollution measures based on coal-fired electricity generating capacity for a sample 183 American cities. The findings suggest that air pollution exacerbated the impact of the pandemic. Proximity to World War I military bases and baseline city health conditions also contributed to pandemic severity. The effects of air pollution are quantitatively important. Had coal-fired capacity in above-median cities been reduced to the median level, 3,400-5,860 pandemic-related infant deaths and 15,575-23,686 pandemic-related all-age deaths would have been averted. These results highlight the complementarity between air pollution and infectious disease on health, and suggest that there may be large co-benefits associated with pollution abatement policies.
Subjects: 
pollution
infectious disease
mortality
1918 influenza pandemic
JEL: 
N32
N52
I15
I18
Q53
Q56
Q58
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
14.93 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.