Advancement to Candidacy Presentation: “International Spillover Effects of Air Pollution: Evidence from Mortality and Health Data”, Will (Seonmin) Heo

Speaker

Will (Seonmin) Heo, University of California, Santa Barbara

Biography

Will is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests lie broadly in and at the intersection of environmental, development, and urban economics.

Event Details

Will (Seonmin) will be presenting his Advancement to Candidacy paper, “International Spillover Effects of Air Pollution: Evidence from Mortality and Health Data”. To access the Advancement paper, you must have an active UCSB NetID and password.

Abstract and JEL Codes

We study the international spillover effects of air pollution by developing a framework that integrates recent advances in atmospheric science into econometric estimation with microdata on mortality and health. Combining transboundary particle trajectory data with the universe of individual-level mortality and emergency department visit data in South Korea, we find that transboundary air pollution from China significantly increases mortality and morbidity in South Korea. Using these estimates, we show that a recent Chinese environmental policy “war on pollution” generated a substantial international spillover benefit. Finally, we examine China’s strategic pollution reductions and provide their implications for the potential Coasian bargaining.

JEL Code: Q53

Event will also be held via Zoom.