Should They Stay or Should They Go? Environmental Quality, Mobility, and Children's Opportunities
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Economics
Abstract
Even low levels of pollution have overarching negative consequences for children's health and development. What's more, low-income and minority people are more likely to be exposed to, and affected by, pollution, suggesting that it might contribute to persistent inequality. Understanding the role of pollution in shaping neighbourhood composition and growth will be key to design policies that stimulate green and inclusive growth in the context of the UK government's levelling up agenda. My study will leverage a unique longitudinal data set following English students for circa twenty years to study the effects of short-term and cumulative pollution exposure on students' human capital and behaviour, including long-term college and labour market outcomes, as well as on families' residential mobility driven by changes in pollution. My study of short- and long-term outcomes of both stayers and movers will paint a full picture of the total effects of environmental quality on children exposed to pollution at different developmental stages, thus advancing the scholarship on the consequences of pollution and the importance of place.
I will compile a unique student-level data set that tracks where children lived and their associated pollution exposure, short- and long-term educational outcomes, as well as deprivation, housing sales and rental indices at the neighbourhood level, by compiling both proprietary and public, but restricted-access, data for England. First, I will use anonymised business data custom-linked to self-reported emission data, gridded satellite estimates of particulate matter, and air quality monitors to measure how local air pollution changes when firms open or close. Second, I will measure children's human capital outcomes through to anonymised pupil data including residential histories, demographic characteristics, performance and behaviour, as well as college and labour market outcomes. I will spatially link the environmental data to students' school and home location to identify pupils who experience changes in environmental quality. Further linking socioeconomic data, house sales and rental prices, and school quality will allow me to measure whether pollution-induced moves lead pupils to neighbourhoods of different socioeconomic status and schools of different quality, potentially mitigating or reinforcing effects on existing inequities. I will leverage these data to follow students over time and space using panel data methods and assess how students' performance changes following openings and closings of toxic plants. In addition, I will investigate how the age and duration of environmental exposure affect students outcomes, and whether moving to better schools, as proxied by school finances and students' performance, mitigates pollution damages.
Specifically, I aim to answer the following questions:
1) What are the effects of differences in environmental quality on pupils' academic performance, non-cognitive outcomes, and residential mobility?
2) Do differences in residential mobility mitigate or reinforce existing inequalities, and what role do school resources play?
3) What are the effects of long-term pollution exposure, and how should policy optimally respond?
This work will provide the first evidence considering the effects of place-based environmental policies on children's life trajectories and inequality. Indeed, environmental policies like those included in the levelling up agenda provide a chance to improve the condition and opportunities of disadvantaged families who tend to be disproportionately affected by environmental quality. My results will provide key data on the (possibly unintended) consequences of environmental policies. With this information at hand, local and central governments can design policies to foster both environmental change and economic opportunities, and can incorporate health and human capital co-benefits of environmental policy in their decision process.
I will compile a unique student-level data set that tracks where children lived and their associated pollution exposure, short- and long-term educational outcomes, as well as deprivation, housing sales and rental indices at the neighbourhood level, by compiling both proprietary and public, but restricted-access, data for England. First, I will use anonymised business data custom-linked to self-reported emission data, gridded satellite estimates of particulate matter, and air quality monitors to measure how local air pollution changes when firms open or close. Second, I will measure children's human capital outcomes through to anonymised pupil data including residential histories, demographic characteristics, performance and behaviour, as well as college and labour market outcomes. I will spatially link the environmental data to students' school and home location to identify pupils who experience changes in environmental quality. Further linking socioeconomic data, house sales and rental prices, and school quality will allow me to measure whether pollution-induced moves lead pupils to neighbourhoods of different socioeconomic status and schools of different quality, potentially mitigating or reinforcing effects on existing inequities. I will leverage these data to follow students over time and space using panel data methods and assess how students' performance changes following openings and closings of toxic plants. In addition, I will investigate how the age and duration of environmental exposure affect students outcomes, and whether moving to better schools, as proxied by school finances and students' performance, mitigates pollution damages.
Specifically, I aim to answer the following questions:
1) What are the effects of differences in environmental quality on pupils' academic performance, non-cognitive outcomes, and residential mobility?
2) Do differences in residential mobility mitigate or reinforce existing inequalities, and what role do school resources play?
3) What are the effects of long-term pollution exposure, and how should policy optimally respond?
This work will provide the first evidence considering the effects of place-based environmental policies on children's life trajectories and inequality. Indeed, environmental policies like those included in the levelling up agenda provide a chance to improve the condition and opportunities of disadvantaged families who tend to be disproportionately affected by environmental quality. My results will provide key data on the (possibly unintended) consequences of environmental policies. With this information at hand, local and central governments can design policies to foster both environmental change and economic opportunities, and can incorporate health and human capital co-benefits of environmental policy in their decision process.
