Atmospheric pollution in China is bad. Nobody would pretend otherwise; but why, exactly, does it need to be cleaned up? Most studies on the problem have focused on narrow health dis-benefits such as respiratory and related issues leading to disability and premature death. So far so nasty.
In the paper highlighted today though Xi Chen from the Yale University and Xiabo Zhang and Xin Zhang from the Peking University have looked at the largely unexplored problem of how pollution might affect cognitive ability; and their findings are (well, to me at least) shocking.
Using data from nationwide standardized tests administered in 2010, 2012 and 2014 and cross referencing the results with pollution data from the locales where the tests were administered the researchers discovered a clear link between poor performance and pollution.
With academic restraint they conclude their paper in part ‘As cognitive functioning is critical to everyday activities, human capital formation, and productivity, our finding about the negative effect of air pollution on cognition implies that the indirect effect on social welfare could be much larger than previously thought. A narrow focus on the negative effect on health may underestimate the total cost of air pollution.‘ Dyathink?!
The effect is worse for men, especially older and less educated ones, than women and I’d urge you to dive into the paper at P.30 for a fascinating digression into how men’s and women’s brains are fundamentally different and therefore why pollution may have a bigger effect on men.
You can access the paper in full via the following link Smog in Our Brains
Happy Sunday.
[An aside; I was traveling the week before last in Wuhan and foolishly decided to walk across their famous Yangtze River Bridge [Yangtze River Bridge] which, in addition to a dual track rail line, supports a four lane highway. Mistake. By the end of it I was nearly retching. Donning a surgical mask, that in the past I’ve had in the same compartment as tinfoil hats, almost immediately cured the problem. In future masks will be a non-negotiable part of my China travel kit. I still think they look goofy and aren’t comfortable; but I’ve little room for further cognitive-ability impairment!]