Working Paper: NBER ID: w13252
Authors: Janet Currie; Eric Hanushek; Megan Kahn; Matthew Neidell; Steven Rivkin
Abstract: We examine the effect of air pollution on school absences using unique administrative data for elementary and middle school children in the 39 largest school districts in Texas. These data are merged with information from monitors maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency. To control for potentially confounding factors, we adopt a difference-in-difference-in differences strategy, and control for persistent characteristics of schools, years, and attendance periods in order to focus on variations in pollution within school-year-attendance period cells. We find that high levels of carbon monoxide (CO) significantly increase absences, even when they are below federal air quality standards.
Keywords: air pollution; school absences; carbon monoxide; particulate matter
JEL Codes: I18; Q51
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| high levels of carbon monoxide (CO) (L94) | school absences (I21) |
| reduction in the number of high CO days (Q54) | decrease in absences (J22) |
| each additional day of CO levels exceeding the threshold (C41) | increase in absenteeism (J22) |
| days between 75 and 100 percent of the threshold (C41) | increase absences (J22) |
| particulate matter (PM) levels (Q53) | absenteeism (J22) |