Air pollution as a cause of sleeplessness: Social media evidence from a panel of Chinese cities

Anthony Heyes*, Mingying Zhu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We provide first evidence of a link from daily air pollution exposure to sleep loss in a panel of Chinese cities. We develop a social media-based, city-level metric for sleeplessness, and bolster causal claims by instrumenting for pollution with plausibly exogenous variations in wind patterns. Estimates of effect sizes are substantial and robust. In our preferred specification a one standard deviation increase in AQI causes an 11.6% increase in sleeplessness, and for PM2.5 is 12.8%. The results sustain qualitatively under OLS estimation but are attenuated. The analysis provides a previously unaccounted for benefit of more stringent air quality regulation. It also offers a candidate mechanism in support of recent research that links daily air quality to diminished workplace productivity, cognitive performance, school absence, traffic accidents, and other detrimental outcomes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102247
JournalJournal of Environmental Economics and Management
Volume98
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support for this project from the CRC and from SSHRC under Insight Grant project #435-2017-1069 “Air Pollution and Human Well-being”.☆ The authors acknowledge financial support for this project from the CRC and from SSHRC under Insight Grant project #435-2017-1069 “Air Pollution and Human Well-being”.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019

Keywords

  • Air pollution
  • IV methods
  • Social costs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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