Undergraduate Sophie-An Kingsbury Lee co-author on paper studying childhood air pollution exposure

The impacts of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) on health outcomes are widely established, but its relationship with economic opportunities is less well understood. To fill this knowledge gap, we gather a nationally representative sample of US census tracts and examine the association between childhood air pollution exposure and a measure of intergenerational mobility between parents’ income and children’s income. After controlling for several census tract–level confounders, our results indicate a statistically significant negative relationship between PM_2.5 exposure during infancy and earnings in adulthood. Furthermore, we provide evidence that this association varies among counties of the country and explore the potential sources of such heterogeneity.