Exposures and Behavioral Responses to Wildfire Smoke

56 Pages Posted: 18 Oct 2021 Last revised: 12 Apr 2025

See all articles by Marshall Burke

Marshall Burke

Stanford University - Department of Earth System Science and the FSE

Sam Heft-Neal

Stanford University - Center on Food Security and the Environment

Jessica Li

Stanford University

Anne Driscoll

Stanford University

Patrick Baylis

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Matthieu Stigler

Stanford University

Joakim Weill

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Jennifer Burney

University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

Jeff Wen

Stanford University

Marissa C

Stanford University

Carlos Gould

Stanford University

Date Written: October 2021

Abstract

The impacts of environmental change on human outcomes often depend on local exposures and behavioral responses that are challenging to observe with traditional administrative or sensor data. We show how data from private pollution sensors, cell phones, social media posts, and internet search activity yield new insights on exposures and behavioral responses during large wildfire smoke events across the US, a rapidly-growing environmental stressor. Health-protective behavior, mobility, and sentiment all respond to increasing ambient wildfire smoke concentrations, but responses differ by income. Indoor pollution monitors provide starkly different estimates of likely personal exposure during smoke events than would be inferred from traditional ambient outdoor sensors, with similar outdoor pollution levels generating >20x differences in average indoor PM2.5 concentrations. Our results suggest that the current policy reliance on self protection to mitigate health risks in the face of rising smoke exposure will result in modest and unequal benefits.

Suggested Citation

Burke, Marshall and Heft-Neal, Sam and Li, Jessica and Driscoll, Anne and Baylis, Patrick and Stigler, Matthieu and Weill, Joakim and Burney, Jennifer and Wen, Jeff and C, Marissa and Gould, Carlos, Exposures and Behavioral Responses to Wildfire Smoke (October 2021). NBER Working Paper No. w29380, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3944428

Marshall Burke (Contact Author)

Stanford University - Department of Earth System Science and the FSE ( email )

Sam Heft-Neal

Stanford University - Center on Food Security and the Environment ( email )

Jessica Li

Stanford University ( email )

367 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Anne Driscoll

Stanford University ( email )

367 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Patrick Baylis

University of British Columbia (UBC) ( email )

2329 West Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Matthieu Stigler

Stanford University ( email )

367 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Joakim Weill

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States

Jennifer Burney

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
Mail Code 0502
La Jolla, CA 92093-0112
United States

Jeff Wen

Stanford University ( email )

367 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Marissa C

Stanford University ( email )

367 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Carlos Gould

Stanford University ( email )

367 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
24
Abstract Views
265
PlumX Metrics