Table 2.
Effects of air quality on mental health and subjective well-being
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
A. Dependent variable: Life dissatisfaction (valued 1–5)
| |||||
| API (÷100) | −0.012 (0.029) | 0.011 (0.033) | 0.013 (0.034) | 0.011 (0.034) | −0.002 (0.033) |
| Household per capita income (log) | −0.047*** (0.006) | −0.019** (0.008) | −0.019** (0.007) | −0.019** (0.008) | −0.018** (0.008) |
| Relative income | −0.255*** (0.007) | −0.190*** (0.009) | −0.190*** (0.009) | −0.190*** (0.009) | −0.189*** (0.008) |
| Observations | 53,418 | 49,333 | 49,333 | 49,333 | 49,333 |
| Adjusted (within) R-squared | 0.149 | 0.110 | 0.110 | 0.110 | 0.128 |
|
| |||||
|
B. Dependent variable: Hedonic unhappiness (valued 0–4)
| |||||
| API (÷100) | 0.044** (0.021) | 0.091*** (0.029) | 0.090*** (0.030) | 0.094*** (0.031) | 0.075*** (0.028) |
| Household per capita income (log) | −0.022*** (0.008) | 0.001 (0.012) | −0.000 (0.012) | −0.000 (0.012) | −0.003 (0.011) |
| Relative income | −0.074*** (0.007) | −0.040*** (0.014) | −0.040*** (0.014) | −0.040*** (0.014) | −0.043*** (0.013) |
| Observations | 33,451 | 25,673 | 25,673 | 25,673 | 25,673 |
| Adjusted (within) R-squared | 0.074 | 0.019 | 0.019 | 0.019 | 0.055 |
|
| |||||
|
C. Dependent variable: CES-D scores (valued 0–24)
| |||||
| API (÷100) | 0.220** (0.104) | 0.294*** (0.111) | 0.287** (0.113) | 0.344*** (0.117) | 0.229** (0.112) |
| Household per capita income (log) | −0.169*** (0.031) | −0.018 (0.047) | −0.020 (0.047) | −0.018 (0.047) | −0.027 (0.047) |
| Relative income | −0.412*** (0.035) | −0.217*** (0.059) | −0.216*** (0.059) | −0.214*** (0.059) | −0.226*** (0.050) |
| Observations | 33,339 | 25,593 | 25,593 | 25,593 | 25,593 |
| Adjusted (within) R-squared | 0.112 | 0.022 | 0.022 | 0.023 | 0.068 |
|
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|
D. Dependent variable: Depressive symptoms (valued 0–1)
| |||||
| API (÷100) | 0.035*** (0.012) | 0.047*** (0.015) | 0.046*** (0.016) | 0.052*** (0.016) | 0.033** (0.015) |
| Household per capita income (log) | −0.018*** (0.003) | −0.000 (0.006) | −0.001 (0.006) | −0.001 (0.006) | −0.001 (0.006) |
| Relative income | −0.041*** (0.004) | −0.023*** (0.007) | −0.023*** (0.007) | −0.023*** (0.007) | −0.025*** (0.006) |
| Observations | 33,339 | 25,593 | 25,593 | 25,593 | 25,593 |
| Adjusted (within) R-squared | 0.086 | 0.010 | 0.011 | 0.011 | 0.053 |
|
| |||||
| Individual fixed effect | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| County, year and month fixed effects | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Day-of-week fixed effects | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Quadratic monthly time trend | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| County-by-year fixed effects | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Weather controls | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Source: China Family Panel Studies 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Note: Comparable hedonic happiness, CES-D scores and depressive symptoms are only available in the waves of 2010 and 2014, while life dissatisfaction is available in all three waves. Therefore, the number of observation in Panels B through D is smaller than that in Panel A. Other demographic controls include gender, age and its square, married status, years of education, unemployment status, party membership, and an indicator for chronic diseases. The weather controls include sunshine duration, mean temperature and its square, total precipitation, mean wind speed, and a dummy for bad weather (fog, rain/drizzle, snow/ice pellets, hail, thunder, and tornadoes/funnel clouds). Robust standard errors, clustered at the county level, are presented in parentheses. API = air pollution index.
5% significance level.
1% significance level.