Beyond The Haze: Air Pollution and Student Absenteeism - Evidence from India

Abstract

Air pollution remains one of the most challenging environmental phenomena. Despite its importance in impacting various facets of everyday life, there is a paucity of well-identified air pollution estimates on short-term outcomes for developing countries. Using novel data, I provide detailed empirical evidence on the direct effect of air pollution on student absenteeism in India by linking local exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to school attendance. I find a large negative effect of increased air pollution on school attendance. My results are robust to a host of specifications and a battery of robustness checks. Consistent with other works, I find that the effect is more pronounced for younger students and find evidence for differential impacts of air pollution on absenteeism by gender. Exploring the mechanisms behind increased absenteeism, I show that reduced school attendance might be resulting from increased incidence of respiratory ailments in the students exposed to air pollution.