Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/324768 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
MUNI ECON Working Paper No. 2025-05
Publisher: 
Masaryk University, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Brno
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the effects of air pollution on public mood using sentiment analysis of geolocated social media data. Analyzing approximately 7 million twitter posts from the United States in July 2015, we examine how fluctuations in air quality caused by Canadian wildfires influence sentiment. We find robust evidence that higher exposure to particulate matter leads to decreased positive sentiment and increased negative sentiment. Given the importance of mood as a factor in labor productivity, our results suggest that the short-term psychological effects of air pollution, alongside its well-documented physical health impacts, should be considered in policy discussions, as negative shifts in public mood due to poor air quality could have far-reaching economic consequences.
Subjects: 
air pollution
particulate matter
mood
sentiment analysis
Twitter
wildfires
JEL: 
Q5
D9
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





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