Seminar Vol. 130

Title: Does Air Pollution Increase Weight Gain and Obesity? Evidence from China

Speaker: Peng Zhang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Time: March 15th, 2019 15:00–16:15

Venue: Conference Room 106B, Zhonghui Building (IESR, JNU College of Economics)

About the speaker:

Peng Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the School of Accounting and Finance, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016. Peng Zhang's research interests include environmental economics, development economics, and applied microeconometrics. His current research focuses on empirical estimation of economic impacts of climate change on the Chinese economy.

Abstract:

We provide the first study on estimating the causal effect of air pollution on weight gain and obesity. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), which provided detailed longitudinal health and economic information for 13,226 adult individuals over 1989-2011, we find significantly positive effect of air pollution, instrumented by thermal inversions, on body-mass index (BMI). In particular, a one standard deviation (26.19 µg/m3) increase in the average concentration of PM2.5 in the past 12 months increases the BMI by 0.55 standard deviations, and further increases the probability of being overweight (BMI>=25) and obese (BMI>=30) by 0.57 and 0.31 standard deviations respectively. Our paper contributes to the literature by identifying a new cause of obesity, and shed light on the potential cost of air pollution.