What are the economic concerns on environment? Mapping the research trends and frontiers on air pollution and health

Figures & data

Figure 1. The technology roadmap.

Source: Authors.

Figure 2. The number of articles published each year.

Source: Authors.

Figure 3. The top ten active journals.

Source: Authors.

Table 1. The top ten productive countries.

Country	Recs	TLCS	TGCS
USA	419	1679	14824
PR. China	118	171	3060
UK	74	92	1812
Germany	41	139	1028
Canada	38	70	1378
France	35	70	836
Australia	27	26	410
Spain	22	15	1231
Netherlands	21	23	389
India	19	32	433

Notes: This table lists the top ten countries based on the number of publications on “air pollution” and “health” in the economic field over the period 1990 to 2020, as well as their respective total local citation score (TLCS) and total global citation score (TGCS).

Source: Authors.

Figure 4. Three-fields plot.

Source: Authors.

Figure 5. National cooperation network.

Source: Authors.

Figure 6. Institutional cooperation network.

Source: Authors.

Figure 7. Author cooperation network.

Source: Authors.

Figure 8. Keyword co-occurrence network.

Source: Authors.

Table 2. Keywords clusters and top terms.

ID	Cluster Label	mean (Year)	Top terms
0	Wildfire smoke exposure	2008	Mexico city; case study; health effect; invasive species; academic performance; active transport; health burden; residential energy consumption
1	Integrated bioeconomic-health model	2013	subjective well-being; environmental regulation; urban migration choice; monetary value; using compulsory relocation; air pollutant; gray matter
2	North India	2014	technology adoption; cooking stove; infant mortality; environmental policy — air pollution; household technology adoption; intra-household bargaining; rural Guatemala; household energy consumption pattern
3	External cost	2014	regional public health; regulatory rollback; air pollution damage; electricity policy; air pollution; coal-fired power plant; health benefit; air quality; respiratory health
4	Multitasking local bureaucrat	2014	case study; environmental justice; power plant; agricultural fire; developing countries; child health; elite college; job location choice; ambient air pollution
5	Economic growth	2013	Chinese cities; economic growth; infant mortality; economic development; ill health; transboundary haze pollution; household utilities consumption; subway expansion; empirical evidence

Notes: This table displays the detail information of the top six clusters shown in Figure 8. The first two columns indicate the cluster ID numbers and the corresponding label names. The third column shows the mean of year when the topic is discussed. The fourth column lists the top ten terms related to each of the cluster.

Source: Authors.

Figure 9. Keyword co-occurrence network in the past ten years.

Source: Authors.

Figure 10. Document co-citation network.

Source: Authors.

Table 3. Document cluster information and cited references.

ID	Cluster Label	Top terms	Most cited papers
0	Infant health	infant mortality; respiratory health; air quality warning; vehicle emissions policy; avoidance behavior evidence	• Healthy, wealthy, and wise: Socioeconomic status, poor health in childhood, and human capital development. (Currie, 2009) • Air pollution and infant health: What can we learn from california’s recent experience? (Currie & Neidell, 2005) • Traffic congestion and infant health: Evidence from e-zpass. (Currie & Walker, 2011)
1	Air pollution	agricultural fire; remarkable decline; clean air; air purifier market; particulate-filtering face-mask	• Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?. (Zhang et al., 2017) • The effect of air pollution on mortality in china: Evidence from the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. (He et al., 2016) • Self-protection investment exacerbates air pollution exposure inequality in urban China. (Sun et al., 2017)
2	Cooking stove	technology adoption; North India; household air pollution; rural senegal; fuel-efficient cookstove	• The intensive margin of technology adoption–Experimental evidence on improved cooking stoves in rural Senegal. (Bensch & Peters, 2015) • Why do households forego high returns from technology adoption? Evidence from improved cooking stoves in Burkina Faso. (Bensch et al., 2015) • Rethinking improved cookstove diffusion programs: A case study of social perceptions and cooking choices in rural Guatemala. (Bielecki & Wingenbach, 2014)
3	CGE analysis	health damage; policy making; So2 emission; residential demand response; peak electricity demand	• Environmental accounting for pollution in the United States economy. (Muller et al., 2011) • Efficient pollution regulation: Getting the prices right. (Muller & Mendelsohn, 2009) • Measuring welfare loss caused by air pollution in Europe: A CGE analysis. (Nam et al., 2010)
4	Policy insight	carbon tax scenario; electricity policy; welfare effect; market change; long-run economic consequence	• Particulate pollution and the productivity of pear packers. (Chang et al., 2016) • Are there environmental benefits from driving electric vehicles? The importance of local factors. (Holland et al., 2016) • The long-run economic consequences of high-stakes examinations: Evidence from transitory variation in pollution. (Ebenstein et al., 2016)
5	Reduced air pollution	electricity sector; nitrogen oxide; emissions reduction; net benefit; efficient emission fee	• Co-benefits of climate policy—lessons learned from a study in Shanxi, China. (Aunan et al., 2004) • Ancillary benefits of reduced air pollution in the US from moderate greenhouse gas mitigation policies in the electricity sector. (Burtraw et al., 2003) • The economic value of air-pollution-related health risks in China: a contingent valuation study. (Hammitt & Zhou, 2006)
6	Human health	particulate matter; electricity generation; electric power sector; integrated approach; electricity resource	• Particulate matter and human health in the United Kingdom. (Pearce & Crowards, 1996) • Transferability of air pollution control health benefits estimates from the United States to developing countries: Evidence from the Bangkok study. (Chestnut et al., 1997) • Economic valuation and health damage from air pollution in the developing world. (Pearce, 1996)
7	Life satisfaction	non-market valuation; individual religious behaviour; valuing non-market good; causal effect; individual religious behaviour	• To what extent does air pollution affect happiness? The case of the Jinchuan mining area, China. (Li et al., 2014) • Estimating the cost of air pollution in South East Queensland: An application of the life satisfaction non-market valuation approach. (Ambrey et al., 2014) • Subjective well-being and environmental quality: The impact of air pollution and green coverage in China. (Yuan et al., 2018)

Notes: This table displays the detail information of the clusters obtained by document co-citation network shown in Figure 10. The first two columns indicate the cluster ID numbers and the corresponding label names. The third column displays the top five terms related to each cluster. The fourth column lists three of the most cited papers in each topic.

Source: Authors.

Figure 11. Author co-citation network.

Source: Authors.

Table 4. Key citing papers and highly cited authors in each cluster.

ID	Cluster Label	Top terms	Key citing papers	Highly cited authors
0	Statistical life	air quality; health effect; electricity generation; case study; Chinese cities	• Does air quality matter? Evidence from the housing market. (Chay & Greenstone, 2005) • Air pollution, health, and socio-economic status: The effect of outdoor air quality on childhood asthma. (Neidell, 2004)	• Schwartz J • Viscusi WK • Alberini A • Smith VK
1	Air pollution	infant health; early-life exposure; educational outcome; power plant; health externalities;	• Healthy, wealthy, and wise: Socioeconomic status, poor health in childhood, and human capital development. (Currie, 2009) • The impact of pollution on worker productivity. (Graff Zivin & Neidell, 2012)	• Chay KY • Currie J • Zivin JG • Greenstone M
2	Air pollution damage	environmental benefit; electricity generation; power plant; social cost; public health	• The impact of pollution on worker productivity. (Graff Zivin & Neidell, 2012) • Environmental accounting for pollution in the United States economy. (Muller et al., 2011)	• POPE CA • Muller NZ • Bell ML • BURTRAW D
3	Environmental Kuznets Curve	case study; environmental justice; OECD countries; health effect; economic development	• Confronting the environmental Kuznets curve. (Dasgupta et al., 2002) • The effect of driving restrictions on air quality in Mexico City. (Davis, 2008)	• Zhang X • GROSSMAN GM • Kunzli N • Dasgupta S
4	Household air pollution	technology adoption; cooking stove; developing countries; cookstove strategies; household air pollution mitigation	• Benefits of shift from car to active transport. (Rabl & De Nazelle, 2012) • Health and climate benefits of cookstove replacement options. (Grieshop et al., 2011)	• Smith KR • Lim SS • Ezzati M • Duflo E
5	Life satisfaction	causal effect; South East Queensland; valuing air quality; subjective well-being; monetary value	• Valuing public goods using happiness data: The case of air quality. (Levinson, 2012) • Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?. (Zhang et al., 2017)	• Luechinger S • Levinson A • Kahneman D • Deaton A
6	Economic development	progressive environmental tax; regressive pollution taxe; OLG model; environmental quality; economic growth	• The effect of pollution on labor supply: Evidence from a natural experiment in Mexico City. (Hanna & Oliva, 2015) • Life expectancy and the environment. (Mariani et al., 2010)	• Evans MF • Acemoglu D • Pautrel X • Bovenberg AL
7	Intertemporal avoidance behavior	environmental regulation; economic growth; finishing industry; case study; information disclosure	• Information, avoidance behavior, and health the effect of ozone on asthma hospitalizations. (Neidell, 2009) • Days of haze: Environmental information disclosure and intertemporal avoidance behavior. (Zivin & Neidell, 2009)	• Bresnahan BW • Mullahy J • Sneeringer S • Roe B
8	Integrated approach	double dividend debate; tax-interaction effect; nonseparable utility; electric power sector; external health cost	• Does air quality matter? Evidence from the housing market. (Chay & Greenstone, 2005) • Measuring the damages of air pollution in the United States (Muller & Mendelsohn, 2007)	• Dockery DW • Lave LB • Moulton BR • Lee H

Notes: This table presents the detail information of the top nine clusters obtained by author co-citation network shown in Figure 11. The first two columns indicate the cluster ID numbers and the corresponding label names. The third column displays the top five terms related to each cluster. The fourth column shows the two key citing papers that cover most of the related cited authors in each cluster. The fifth column lists four of the most cited authors in each topic.

Source: Authors.

Figure 12. Author cooperation network.

Notes: The upper panel shows the topic dendrogram of air pollution-health literature in economics. The lower panel demonstrates the topic dendrogram in environmental science, based on the bibliographic data collected using the identical search query as we set for economics.

Source: Authors.

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