Rapid industrialization in China has come with substantial increases in local air pollution. This paper quantifies the health benefits of the Winter Pollution Mitigation Policy of 2017. We estimate that this policy caused an 18% reduction in fine particulate concentration levels, resulting in 19,400 deaths avoided in 2017 due to pollution exposure in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and neighboring regions. Our findings suggest that the ratio of public expenditures to deaths avoided is much lower for the winter policy relative to the overall Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan. This may be because the winter policy targeted the most polluted region in China during the season with highest pollution levels.
Authors: Mengjia Ren and Akshaya Jha