Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 80 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA, US.
Health Econ. 2018 Aug;27(8):1189-1200. doi: 10.1002/hec.3667. Epub 2018 May 8.
This paper utilizes a unique dataset of competitive outcomes from intercollegiate track and field competition to identify the relationship between recent ambient pollution exposure histories and human performance among a young and fit population in a diverse range of physically demanding "tasks". I find that higher contemporaneous ozone levels are associated with poorer performances in events that heavily tax the respiratory system. This is the case despite the low exposure levels observed in the studied sample, which are similar to those regularly experienced across the developed world. Such negative performance effects imply that observed ozone exposures are leading to physiological harm, which can be expected to negatively impact economic outcomes through both health and productivity channels. Leveraging the unique structure of the data- which includes location information for competitions and home institutions- I also identify an acclimatization effect whereby recent exposure to higher ozone levels serves to reduce the negative effects of contemporaneous exposure. This finding underscores the importance of regulating peak ozone levels rather than only mean concentrations, as spikes in ambient ozone levels can be particularly damaging to exposed populations.
本文利用大学校际田径比赛竞争结果的独特数据集，确定了近期暴露于环境污染物与多样化高体能要求“任务”中年轻健康人群的人体表现之间的关系。我发现，在呼吸系统负担过重的比赛中，当前的臭氧水平越高，表现越差。尽管研究样本中观察到的暴露水平较低，但与发达世界经常经历的水平相似。这种负面的表现效应意味着观察到的臭氧暴露正在导致生理伤害，这可能会通过健康和生产力渠道对经济结果产生负面影响。利用数据的独特结构——包括比赛和主场机构的位置信息——我还发现了一种适应效应，即最近暴露于较高的臭氧水平可以降低当前暴露的负面影响。这一发现凸显了调节峰值臭氧水平而不仅仅是平均浓度的重要性，因为环境臭氧水平的飙升对暴露人群尤其有害。
