Can Air Pollution Save Lives? Air Quality and Risky Behaviors on Roads

• Tác giả: Wen Hsu, Bing-Fang Hwang, Chau-Ren Jung, Yau-Huo Jimmy Shr
• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 571.956 +Air pollutants
• Thông tin xuất bản: 2021
• Bộ sưu tập: Báo, Tạp chí
• ID: 168206

Tóm tắt

Air pollution has been linked to elevated levels of risk aversion. This paper provides the first evidence showing that such effect reduces life-threatening risky behaviors. We study the impact of air pollution on traffic accidents caused by risky driving behaviors, using the universe of accident records and high-resolution air quality data of Taiwan from 2009 to 2015. We find that air pollution significantly decreases accidents caused by driver violations, and that this effect is nonlinear. In addition, our results suggest that air pollution primarily reduces road users' risky behaviors through visual channels rather than through the respiratory system.