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Air pollution and food prices: evidence from China
Author(s) -
Sun Feifei,
Koemle Dieter B. A.,
Yu Xiaohua
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
australian journal of agricultural and resource economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.683
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-8489
pISSN - 1364-985X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8489.12204
Subject(s) - beijing , china , air pollution , agricultural economics , pollution , air quality index , chinese market , damages , business , index (typography) , environmental science , economics , geography , biology , meteorology , ecology , archaeology , political science , law , world wide web , computer science
Air pollution is one of the top environmental concerns in China. On days with severe air pollution, people (both consumers and producers) often reduce outdoor economic activities in order to avoid possible health damages. This impacts the market trade of fresh food products, at least in a short run. This empirical study sheds light on the impact of air pollution on the short run prices of three major fresh food products (Chinese cabbage, tomatoes and pork) using daily data from the largest outdoor wholesale market in Beijing. With an increase in AQI (Air Quality Index) by 100 units, prices for Chinese cabbage and tomatoes decrease by 1.19 and 0.89 per cent. With an increase in PM 2.5 concentration by 100 μ g/m 3 , prices for Chinese cabbage and tomatoes decrease by 0.64 and 0.55 per cent. Air pollution affects vegetable prices, but has no significant impact on prices of pork products.