Working Paper: NBER ID: w24183
Authors: Nicolas Gendron-Carrier; Marco Gonzalez-Navarro; Stefano Polloni; Matthew A. Turner
Abstract: We investigate the effect of subway system openings on urban air pollution. On average, particulate concentrations are unchanged by subway openings. For cities with higher initial pollution levels, subway openings reduce particulates by 4% in the area surrounding a city center. The effect decays with distance to city center and persists over the longest time horizon that we can measure with our data, about four years. For highly polluted cities, we estimate that a new subway system provides an external mortality benefit of about $1b per year. For less polluted cities, the effect is indistinguishable from zero. Back of the envelope cost estimates suggest that reduced mortality due to lower air pollution offsets a substantial share of the construction costs of subways.
Keywords: Subways; Urban Air Pollution; Public Transportation; Health Benefits
JEL Codes: L91; R11; R14; R4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| subway openings (L91) | AOD (C69) |
| subway openings (L91) | particulate concentrations (Q53) |
| subway openings (L91) | external mortality benefit (J17) |
| higher initial pollution levels (Q53) | greater reductions in AOD post-opening (C69) |
| distance from city center (R53) | effect of subway openings (R41) |