Beyond Particulate Matter: New Evidence on the Causal Effects of Air Pollution on Mortality

The increasing global demand for electricity has led to a rise in coal consumption, which has in turn led to an increase in sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution levels. Despite the severity of this issue, conclusive evidence regarding the causal relationship between SO2 pollution and health, particularly in developing countries, is lacking. We leverage a large national environmental regulation policy, implemented in China to reduce SO2 emissions, to estimate the impacts of SO2 on mortality. We find that 1-µg/m3 reduction in SO2 concentrations leads to 2.40 fewer deaths per 100,000 children under the age of 5 (1.5% decrease) and 20.48 fewer cardiorespiratory deaths per 100,000 people aged 60 years and above (1.1% decrease) annually.

Note:
Funding Information: None to declare.

Conflict of Interests: None to declare.

Keywords: Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Pollution, Air Pollution, Mortality, Environmental Regulation, China

JEL Classification: Q53, I15, I18, Q58

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Fan, Maoyong and Jiang, Hanchen and Zhou, Maigeng, Beyond Particulate Matter: New Evidence on the Causal Effects of Air Pollution on Mortality (May 1, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4116956 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4116956