Dirty Density: Air Quality and the Density of American Cities

Arbeitspapier

In this paper we study the effect of urban density on the exposure of city dwellers to air pollution using data from the United States urban system. Exploiting geological features to instrument for density, we find an economically and statistically significant pollution-density elasticity of 0.13. We also assess the health implications of these estimates and find that doubling density in an average city increases annual mortality costs by $630 per capita. Our findings highlight the possible trade-off between reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, which is associated with denser cities according to prior research, and preserving local air quality and human health within cities.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 13191

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling ; Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes ; Health: General
• Subject: air pollution ; cities ; density ; health

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Carozzi, Felipe ; Roth, Sefi
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/216503
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET