Should They Stay or Should They Go? Environmental Quality, Mobility, and Children's Opportunities

即使是低水平的污染也会对儿童的健康和发展产生全面的负面影响。更重要的是，低收入人群和少数族裔更有可能接触到污染并受到污染的影响，这表明污染可能会导致持续的不平等。在英国政府升级议程的背景下，了解污染在塑造社区构成和增长方面的作用，将是设计刺激绿色和包容性增长的政策的关键。我的研究将利用一个独特的纵向数据集，跟踪英国学生大约20年，研究短期和累积污染暴露对学生人力资本和行为的影响，包括长期的大学和劳动力市场结果，以及由污染变化驱动的家庭居住流动性。我对留守儿童和迁入儿童的短期和长期结果的研究，将全面描绘出环境质量对处于不同发育阶段暴露于污染中的儿童的总体影响，从而推进污染后果和地点重要性的学术研究。我将编制一个独特的学生水平数据集，通过汇编英国的专有和公共但限制访问的数据，跟踪儿童居住的地方及其相关的污染暴露，短期和长期的教育成果，以及贫困，住房销售和邻里水平的租赁指数。首先，我将使用与自我报告的排放数据定制链接的匿名商业数据，网格卫星估计的颗粒物质，以及空气质量监测器来衡量企业开业或关闭时当地空气污染的变化。其次，我将通过匿名学生数据来衡量儿童的人力资本结果，这些数据包括居住历史、人口特征、表现和行为，以及大学和劳动力市场的结果。我将环境数据与学生的学校和家庭位置在空间上联系起来，以识别经历环境质量变化的学生。进一步将社会经济数据、房屋销售和租金价格与学校质量联系起来，将使我能够衡量污染导致的迁移是否会将学生带到不同社会经济地位的社区和不同质量的学校，从而可能减轻或加强对现有不平等的影响。我将利用这些数据，使用面板数据方法随时间和空间跟踪学生，并评估学生在有毒工厂开放和关闭后的表现变化。此外，我将调查环境暴露的年龄和持续时间如何影响学生的成绩，以及是否转移到更好的学校，如学校财政和学生的表现所代表的，减轻污染损害。具体来说，我的目标是回答以下问题：1)环境质量的差异对学生的学习成绩、非认知结果和居住流动性有什么影响？2)居住流动性的差异是否缓解或加剧了现有的不平等？学校资源在其中扮演了什么角色？3)长期接触污染的影响是什么？政策应如何最佳应对？这项工作将为考虑基于地点的环境政策对儿童生活轨迹和不平等的影响提供第一个证据。的确，诸如列入提升议程的环境政策提供了改善处境不利家庭的条件和机会的机会，这些家庭往往受到环境质量的不成比例的影响。我的研究结果将为环境政策（可能是无意的）后果提供关键数据。有了这些信息，地方和中央政府就可以制定政策，促进环境变化和经济机会，并将环境政策在健康和人力资本方面的共同利益纳入其决策过程。

Even low levels of pollution have overarching negative consequences for children's health and development. What's more, low-income and minority people are more likely to be exposed to, and affected by, pollution, suggesting that it might contribute to persistent inequality. Understanding the role of pollution in shaping neighbourhood composition and growth will be key to design policies that stimulate green and inclusive growth in the context of the UK government's levelling up agenda. My study will leverage a unique longitudinal data set following English students for circa twenty years to study the effects of short-term and cumulative pollution exposure on students' human capital and behaviour, including long-term college and labour market outcomes, as well as on families' residential mobility driven by changes in pollution. My study of short- and long-term outcomes of both stayers and movers will paint a full picture of the total effects of environmental quality on children exposed to pollution at different developmental stages, thus advancing the scholarship on the consequences of pollution and the importance of place.I will compile a unique student-level data set that tracks where children lived and their associated pollution exposure, short- and long-term educational outcomes, as well as deprivation, housing sales and rental indices at the neighbourhood level, by compiling both proprietary and public, but restricted-access, data for England. First, I will use anonymised business data custom-linked to self-reported emission data, gridded satellite estimates of particulate matter, and air quality monitors to measure how local air pollution changes when firms open or close. Second, I will measure children's human capital outcomes through to anonymised pupil data including residential histories, demographic characteristics, performance and behaviour, as well as college and labour market outcomes. I will spatially link the environmental data to students' school and home location to identify pupils who experience changes in environmental quality. Further linking socioeconomic data, house sales and rental prices, and school quality will allow me to measure whether pollution-induced moves lead pupils to neighbourhoods of different socioeconomic status and schools of different quality, potentially mitigating or reinforcing effects on existing inequities. I will leverage these data to follow students over time and space using panel data methods and assess how students' performance changes following openings and closings of toxic plants. In addition, I will investigate how the age and duration of environmental exposure affect students outcomes, and whether moving to better schools, as proxied by school finances and students' performance, mitigates pollution damages.Specifically, I aim to answer the following questions:1) What are the effects of differences in environmental quality on pupils' academic performance, non-cognitive outcomes, and residential mobility?2) Do differences in residential mobility mitigate or reinforce existing inequalities, and what role do school resources play?3) What are the effects of long-term pollution exposure, and how should policy optimally respond?This work will provide the first evidence considering the effects of place-based environmental policies on children's life trajectories and inequality. Indeed, environmental policies like those included in the levelling up agenda provide a chance to improve the condition and opportunities of disadvantaged families who tend to be disproportionately affected by environmental quality. My results will provide key data on the (possibly unintended) consequences of environmental policies. With this information at hand, local and central governments can design policies to foster both environmental change and economic opportunities, and can incorporate health and human capital co-benefits of environmental policy in their decision process.