Early exposure to air pollution and cognitive development later in life: Evidence from China

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between prenatal exposure to air pollution and youth cognitive skill development in China. This study combines the city-level air pollution data compiled by the World Bank with the Chinese Household Income Project. A one-milligram decrease in prenatal exposure to total suspended particulates is associated with an increase of 6.16 standard deviations in literature scores and 3.95 standard deviations in math scores for children aged between 6 and 19. A one-milligram decrease in both prenatal and postnatal air pollution exposure is associated with an increase of 6.41 standard deviations in literature scores and 4.21 standard deviations in math scores. Prenatal air pollution exposure has a persistent detrimental effect on children's health, which in turn negatively affects their academic performance. These findings provide additional evidence supporting the “fetal origins” hypothesis, which predicts early shocks in utero affect the outcomes later in life.