Understanding the Impact of Air Pollution Avoidance Behavior on Respiratory Health: A Study from Siddharthanagar Municipality of Nepal
Description
While several recent studies have focused on identifying the critical determinants of air pollution avoidance behavior, such as investment in facial masks and air filters, the health outcomes of the avoidance behavior, remain understudied, especially in a representative sample. This research, using data from Siddharthanagar municipality of Nepal, examines the impact of air pollution avoidance behavior on respiratory health outcomes, taking lung function as a biomarker of respiratory health. We address the endogeneity pertaining to exposure avoidance behavior by employing a simultaneous conditional mixed-process model. We also use a spatial autoregressiveIV model to control for any spatial autocorrelation. Our findings suggest that exposure avoidance behavior has a significant positive impact on lung function. Furthermore, we find that exposure avoidance is considerably low amongst farmers and daily wage laborers who are exposed the most to air pollution.
Understanding the Impact of Air Pollution Avoidance Behavior on Respiratory Health: A Study from Siddharthanagar Municipality of Nepal
While several recent studies have focused on identifying the critical determinants of air pollution avoidance behavior, such as investment in facial masks and air filters, the health outcomes of the avoidance behavior, remain understudied, especially in a representative sample. This research, using data from Siddharthanagar municipality of Nepal, examines the impact of air pollution avoidance behavior on respiratory health outcomes, taking lung function as a biomarker of respiratory health. We address the endogeneity pertaining to exposure avoidance behavior by employing a simultaneous conditional mixed-process model. We also use a spatial autoregressiveIV model to control for any spatial autocorrelation. Our findings suggest that exposure avoidance behavior has a significant positive impact on lung function. Furthermore, we find that exposure avoidance is considerably low amongst farmers and daily wage laborers who are exposed the most to air pollution.