Essays in Environmental Economics and Public Health

Abstract

This dissertation comprises three essays focused intersection of environmental economics and public health, each examining a consequence of wildfire smoke exposure. The first chapter investigates the causal impact of short-term smoke exposure on hospital care utilization in Oregon. Using daily ZIP code-level panel fixed effects models (2008-2022), I show that wildfire smoke significantly increases both emergency department visits and inpatient admissions. I further estimate the cost savings under a counterfactual reduction of 2020-2022 smoke levels to those in 2008-2010, finding that avoided inpatient stays account for 80 percent of total healthcare savings. The second chapter examines behavioral responses to fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) and wildfire smoke across three domains: information seeking, recreation, and mobility. Leveraging weekly Google Trends at the DMA-level, monthly National Park visitation data, and daily traffic counts in Oregon, I find that increasing PM2.5 unexpectedly dampens search interest for most air-quality topics, heavier density smoke plumes reduce park visits especially in outdoor-focused parks, and smoke exposure reduces local travel volume. The third and final chapter focuses on the impacts of smoke plumes on health by examining monthly mortality in U.S. counties from 2006 to 2019. Using CDC mortality data, I find an additional smoke day raises all-cause mortality rates (per 100,000), with larger effects at higher plume densities and among older adults. I also highlight the robustness of smoke to different configurations (smoke days, binned, continuous measures).Public Polic