The unintended impacts of agricultural fires: Human capital in China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zivin, Joshua Graff; Liu, Tong; Song, Yingquan; Tang, Qu; Zhang, Peng
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; University of California System; University of California San Diego; Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; Peking University; Jinan University; Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data; The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102560
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: Cognitive performance; human capital; Agricultural fire; Air pollution

摘要

The practice of burning agricultural waste is ubiquitous around the world, yet the external human capital costs from those fires have been underexplored. Using data from the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) and agricultural fires in China from 2005 to 2011, this paper investigates the impacts of fires on cognitive performance. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in the difference between upwind and downwind fires during the exam decreases the total exam score by 1.42 percent of a standard deviation (or 0.6 points), and further decreases the probability of getting into first-tier universities by 0.51 percent of a standard deviation.