Smoggier skies, lower scores? A Brazilian study examines the effects of
air pollution on students' cognitive performance

Date:
October 6, 2021
Source:
University of Chicago Press Journals
Summary:
A new study looks at the causal relationship between outdoor air
pollution levels on nationwide university entry examination day
and students' cognitive performance in Brazil.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new study published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental
and Resource Economists looks at the causal relationship between outdoor
air pollution levels on nationwide university entry examination day and students' cognitive performance in Brazil.


==========================================================================
In "The Effects of Air Pollution on Students' Cognitive Performance:
Evidence from Brazilian University Entrance Tests," authors Juliana
Carneiro, Matthew A.

Cole, and Eric Strobl use Brazilian data on concentrations of ozone
(O3) and particulate matter (PM10) and a data set of students' scores to examine the impact of air pollution on academic performance in national examinations. The air pollution data focuses on Rio de Janeiro and Sa~o
Paulo -- Brazil's most industrialized states -- using air pollution and
weather monitoring station data to build a unique data panel from 2015-17.

The authors constructed individual-level panel data for the two days of
exams across three years and applied student fixed effects to address
potential endogeneity concerns. "In addition," they note, "We take
advantage of plausibly exogenous spatial and temporal variation in PM10
across municipalities in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sa~o Paulo
and utilize an instrumental variable approach based on wind direction."
The findings suggest that an increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter
(mg/m3) of PM10 on the day of the examination decreases students'
scores by 6.1 points (8% SD). "Even when including a more flexible
measure of our treatment that is utilizing a dummy variable to account
for the days in which PM10 exceeded the WHO's acceptable threshold, our findings still point to negative effects of air pollution on cognitive performance during examinations," they note. Placebo tests, sensitivity
checks, and falsifications tests reinforced the main findings: evidence
of a link between air pollution and exam performance.

Consistent with previous studies, the authors also find evidence
that the effect of air pollution on exam performance appears
to affect males more adversely than females. "Our results
also suggest that poorer students may be more susceptible to
air pollution than wealthier exam takers," they write, adding,
"Our findings provide plausible evidence to suggest that cognitive
performance may be hindered by poor air quality, but unequally so." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Chicago_Press_Journals. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Juliana Carneiro, Matthew A. Cole, Eric Strobl. The Effects of Air
Pollution on Students' Cognitive Performance: Evidence from
Brazilian University Entrance Tests. Journal of the Association
of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2021; 8 (6): 1051 DOI:
10.1086/714671 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211006170717.htm

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