C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - N I N E Air Pollution in Cities INTRODUCTION Some cities face severe air pollution problems, while other cities of similar population sizes are much cleaner. For example, World Bank data from 1995 indicates that for a sample of major cities where air quality was monitored, the ambient particulate level of the average Asian city was four times higher than that of the average city in Western Europe. In the year 1995, there were at least 25 cities in Asia whose ambient particulate levels. | A Companion to Urban Economics Edited by Richard J. Arnott Daniel P. McMillen Copyright 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Air Pollution in Cities Matthew E. Kahn Introduction Some cities face severe air pollution problems while other cities of similar population sizes are much cleaner. For example World Bank data from 1995 indicates that for a sample of major cities where air quality was monitored the ambient particulate level of the average Asian city was four times higher than that of the average city in Western Europe. In the year 1995 there were at least 25 cities in Asia whose ambient particulate levels exceeded three times the World Health Organization s annual particulate standard of 90 pg m-3 micrograms per cubic meter . Urban air pollution can significantly degrade quality of life. In polluted cities time spent outside is dangerous to one s health. Such cities may have trouble attracting footloose high tech firms and their amenity-seeking workers to locate there. A mayor of such a city might wonder How did this city become so polluted What cost-effective regulations could be enacted to clean up the city How much would people be willing to pay to reduce local pollution This chapter seeks to examine each of these issues by focusing on the supply and demand for urban air pollution. There are numerous examples of polluted cities such as Los Angeles Krakow and Pittsburgh that have made dramatic pollution progress. There are other cities whose pollution levels are increasing or are only slowly improving. This diversity of experiences means that researchers can test hypotheses concerning what drives urban air pollution and can investigate what policies effectively mitigate urban air pollution. A challenge in making progress in understanding the causes and consequences of urban air pollution is that it really requires an interdisciplinary research team. Public health experts focus on measuring the health impacts of air pollution exposure. .
