【Subject】Smog in Our Brains: Gender Differences in the Impact of Exposure to Air Pollution on Cognitive Performance in China
【Speaker】ZHANG Xin, PhD Student, National School of Development, Peking University
【Time】09:00-10:15 am, March 21, 2017, Tuesday
【Place】Classroom 106, the Fourth Teaching Building, Wuchuan Campus, SUFE
【Host】Department of Investment, School of Public Economics and Administration, SUFE
【Host】Professor Chen Jie, Dean of Department of Investment, SPEA, SUFE
ZHANG Xin, Professor ZHANG Xiaobo’s PhD student, received his bachelor degree in Nankai University in 2012 and was visiting scholar in Yale University in 2014-2015. His main research direction includes Health Economics, Environment Economics and Labor Economics. His essays published in International Journal of SCI/SSCI sources Ecological Economics and Domestic Core Journal China Economic Quarterly, and shared reports in several international academic conference like the 11th World Congress of the Econometric Society. His PhD Dissertation studied the impact of Air Pollution on Happiness and Cognitive Performance, and carried out air pollution’s valuation based on happiness data.
【Abstract】 While there is a large body of literature on the negative health effects of air pollution, there is much less written about its effects on cognitive performance for the whole population. This paper studies the effects of contemporaneous and cumulative exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance based on a nationally representative survey in China. By merging a longitudinal sample at the individual level with local air-quality data according to the exact dates and counties of interviews, we find that contemporaneous and cumulative exposure to air pollution impedes both verbal and math scores of survey subjects. Interestingly, the negative effect is stronger for men than for women. Specifically, the gender difference is more salient among the old and less educated in both verbal and math tests.