JUE insight: Air pollution and student performance in the U.S.

Abstract

The United States has seen a drastic shift in the fuels used for electricity production. We study the consequences of these changes on air pollution and test scores. Using data covering the near-universe of students and a shift-share instrument that interacts local fuel shares with national growth rates, we show that each one-unit increase in particulate pollution reduces test scores by 0.016 standard deviations. Our estimates indicate that pollution reductions from electricity generation raised nationwide test scores by 0.03 standard deviations. As pollution declines were largest in majority-black districts, the black–white test score gap fell by 0.01 standard deviations.