Effects of Air Quality on health and human capital outcomes of children
“We will document the impact of air pollution on children’s health and education outcomes. We hope this will feed into the design of more equitable environmental policies that work for all children.”
This study is being led by Ludovica Gazzè (University of Warwick) and was funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The study started in 2025 and aims to finish in 2028.
This project was reviewed and approved through ECHILD's data access process. Learn how ECHILD data is kept safe.
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We aim to understand the impact of air pollution from toxic plants on physical and mental health, and human capital development of children in England, and the mitigating role of policy interventions.
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Air pollution has severe implications for cardio-respiratory health and the brain. Children are at higher risk of ill effects due to their smaller developing respiratory tracts, higher relative air intake, and greater amount of time spent outdoors. By studying the effects of air pollution from toxic plants, on physical and mental health, and human capital outcomes, we will provide among the first comprehensive, nationwide evidence on implications of air quality for children.
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We will combine linked longitudinal data on child health and education with data on environmental quality, neighbourhood quality, and pollution sources/toxic plants, to observe short- and medium-term impacts of pollution. We will also evaluate the moderating role of neighbourhood characteristics on the effects of pollution.
Find out more
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Why does this matter?
Air pollution has severe implications for cardio-respiratory health and the brain. Children are at higher risk of ill effects due to their smaller developing respiratory tracts, higher relative air intake, and greater amount of time spent outdoors. It is therefore important to understand the impact of air pollution on health and development of children and the mitigating role of policy interventions.
What do we want to find out?
What are the effects of air pollution on children’s educational attainment, physical health and mental health; and does the quality of public services and amenities in a neighbourhood mediate these effects?
What we will do
We will combine health and education data from 2005/06- 2018/19 with data on environmental quality, neighbourhood amenities, school quality, and pollution sources such as toxic plants. As exposure to air pollution varies over time and space, we will study how such differential exposure to air pollution affects children’s health and education outcomes. We will then analyse how these impacts are mediated by neighbourhood characteristics such as deprivation scores, house prices and public services quality.
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Background and aims
We aim to understand the impact of air pollution from toxic plants on physical and mental health, and human capital development of children in England, and the mitigating role of policy interventions. Specifically, we aim to address two research questions:
What are the short- and medium-term effects of air pollution on children’s educational attainment, physical health and mental health, and how do these effects reinforce each other?
Does the quality of public services and amenities in a neighbourhood mediate these effects?
By studying the effects of air pollution from toxic plants, on physical and mental health, and human capital outcomes, we will provide among the first comprehensive, nationwide evidence on implications of air quality for children.
Methods and analysis
We will exploit temporal and spatial variation to measure the causal effect of changes in air pollution associated with industrial plants, airports, and maritime ports. We will source data on children’s outcomes from the ECHILD dataset over the period 2005/06-2018/19. We will compare outcomes of children affected by annual changes in air pollution from sources in our sample (treated group) to those unaffected, because they either live slightly farther away from these sources or belong to a younger/older cohort (control group). Under testable assumptions, such comparisons will yield the short- and longer-term causal effect of air pollution on children’s education and health. Using data on neighbourhood amenities (deprivation score, house and rental prices, demographics, school quality, health services), we will investigate how neighbourhood characteristics can potentially mitigate the effect of air pollution on children’s education and health.
ECHILD data used
HES: Admitted Patient Care and Outpatients (2005–2019), Accidents & Emergency (2007–2019), Critical Care (2008–2019), Mental Health Services Data Set (2016–2019)
NPD: Pupil Level Annual School Census 2005, Spring Census (pupil 2006-2019, schools 2007-2019), Early Years Census + Foundation Stage Profile (2008-2022), Absences (2006–2019), Exclusions (2005–2019), Key Stages 1 (1998-2019, 2022), 2 (Exam + Pupil 1996-2019, 2022), 3 (1999-2013), 4 (Exam + Pupil 2002-2021), 5 (Exam + Student 2003-2021)