Blue Skies in Beijing? Looking at the Olympic Effect

Abstract

As part of its preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing has undertaken significant environmental cleanup activities. These offer a potentially significant ancillary benefit—the improvements in health that result from a less polluted urban airshed. Using China-based health-effects studies, the authors project, and value in dollar figures, the number of averted deaths, hospital outpatient visits, and emergency room visits resulting from the lowered air pollution—what the authors call “the Olympic effect.” Unlike previous studies on the health effects of pollution in China, they use seasonal breakdowns to isolate the impact of seasonal variations in pollution levels and to more accurately separate out the health impacts of the different types of pollutants. Their results indicate that the Olympic effect is substantial, with a midrange value of health improvements exceeding $29 billion in 2000 dollars over the period 1999-2008.