Can Air Pollution Save Lives? Air Quality and Risky Behaviors on Roads

2021/11/12 by Wen Hsu, Bing‐Fang Hwang, Hsu, Wen +5
Engineering · Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Air Quality and Health Impacts #FOS: Economics and business #General Economics (econ.GN) #Traffic and Road Safety #Urban Transport and Accessibility

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.06837

openalex publication_date 2021/11/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Air pollution has been linked to elevated levels of risk aversion. This paper provides the first evidence showing that such effect reduces life-threatening risky behaviors. We study the impact of air pollution on traffic accidents caused by risky driving behaviors, using the universe of accident records and high-resolution air quality data of Taiwan from 2009 to 2015. We find that air pollution significantly decreases accidents caused by driver violations, and that this effect is nonlinear. In addition, our results suggest that air pollution primarily reduces road users' risky behaviors through visual channels rather than through the respiratory system.

Citations

• Control Function Methods in Applied Econometrics
• Errors and violations on the roads: a real distinction?
• The Log of Gravity
• The Effects of Local Industrial Pollution on Students and Schools

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