Exposures to ambient particulate matter are associated with reduced adult earnings potential

Lucien Swetschinski; Kelvin C Fong; Rachel Morello-Frosch; Julian D Marshall; Michelle L Bell

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116391

Exposures to ambient particulate matter are associated with reduced adult earnings potential

Environ Res. 2023 Sep 1:232:116391. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116391. Epub 2023 Jun 10.

Authors

Lucien Swetschinski¹, Kelvin C Fong², Rachel Morello-Frosch³, Julian D Marshall⁴, Michelle L Bell⁵

Affiliations

¹ Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA. Electronic address: lswets@uw.edu.
² Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Electronic address: kelvin.fong@dal.ca.
³ Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; School of Public Health, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: rmf@berkeley.edu.
⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: jdmarsh@uw.edu.
⁵ Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA. Electronic address: Michelle.bell@yale.edu.

PMID: 37308068
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116391

Abstract

The societal costs of air pollution have historically been measured in terms of premature deaths (including the corresponding values of statistical lives lost), disability-adjusted life years, and medical costs. Emerging research, however, demonstrated potential impacts of air pollution on human capital formation. Extended contact with pollutants such as airborne particulate matter among young persons whose biological systems are still developing can result in pulmonary, neurobehavioral, and birth complications, hindering academic performance as well as skills and knowledge acquisition. Using a dataset that tracks 2014-2015 incomes for 96.2% of Americans born between 1979 and 1983, we assessed the association between childhood exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and adult earnings outcomes across U.S. Census tracts. After accounting for pertinent economic covariates and regional random effects, our regression models indicate that early-life exposure to PM_2.5 is associated with lower predicted income percentiles by mid-adulthood; all else equal, children raised in high pollution tracts (at the 75th percentile of PM_2.5) are estimated to have approximately a 0.51 decrease in income percentile relative to children raised in low pollution tracts (at the 25th percentile of PM_2.5). For a person earning the median income, this difference corresponds to a $436 lower annual income (in 2015 USD). We estimate that 2014-2015 earnings for the 1978-1983 birth cohort would have been ∼$7.18 billion higher had their childhood exposure met U.S. air quality standards for PM_2.5. Stratified models show that the relationship between PM_2.5 and diminished earnings is more pronounced for low-income children and for children living in rural environments. These findings raise concerns about long-term environmental and economic justice for children living in areas with poor air quality where air pollution could act as a barrier to intergenerational class equity.

Keywords: Air pollution; Childhood health; Economic mobility; Environmental exposures; Income; Particulate matter.

MeSH terms

Adult
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollutants* / toxicity
Air Pollution* / analysis
Child
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Humans
Income
Particulate Matter

Substances

Particulate Matter
Air Pollutants