Dirty density: air quality and the density of American cities

Carozzi, Felipe ORCID: 0000-0002-0458-5531 and Roth, Sefi ORCID: 0009-0008-2558-554X (2023) Dirty density: air quality and the density of American cities. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 118. ISSN 0095-0696

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Abstract

We study the effect of urban density on the exposure of city dwellers to air pollution using data from the United States urban system. Exploiting geological features to instrument for density, we find an economically and statistically significant pollution-density elasticity of 0.14. We assess the health implications of these estimates and find that increased density in an average city leads to sizeable mortality costs. Our findings highlight the possible trade-off between reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, which is associated with denser cities according to prior empirical research, and preserving local air quality and human health within cities.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-e...
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	Geography & Environment
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
JEL classification:	Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q53 - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes
Date Deposited:	21 Nov 2022 12:21
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 08:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/117385

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