From haze to health: unveiling the health benefits of clean air action-evidence in China

Although many studies have discussed whether and how environmental regulation is effective in developed countries, empirical evidence for developing countries is still scarce. In this paper, we complement the existing literature by investigating impacts of Chinese Clean Air Action (CAA) policy in 2013, known as the largest “battle” in the history of Chinese anti-pollution campaign, on adult health status. Results revealed that CAA policy significantly improved adult health status, specifically, adults living in cities with higher-emission-reduction targets had a lower probability of getting sick or injured than did other adults after CAA policy. This effect is obvious for rural adults, male adults, and adults living in cities with lower medical conditions. Additionally, the improvement of adult health status could be attributed to reductions in pollutants (SO2 and PM2.5 concentrations) resulting from CAA policy. Overall, our article provides evidence of health benefits of environmental regulation for developing countries, offering important practical implications for enhancing residents' health under air pollution conditions.