Air Pollution and Pet Health and Landowner Windfalls | Stephen Jarvis

Dr Stephen Jarvis is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics at the London School of Economics, in the Department of Geography and Environment. Stephen will be discussing two papers: ‘Air Pollution and Pet Health’ in Part 1 ‘Landowner Windfalls’ in Part 2.

Abstract: Air pollution and pet health

There is a large literature documenting the adverse impacts of ambient air pollution on human health. In contrast, there is a paucity of research studying the effects of air pollution on animal health. We fill this gap, utilizing five years of data on over seven million visits to veterinary practices across the United Kingdom. Leveraging within-city variation in daily monitor-measured air pollution levels, we find that increases in fine particulate matter (i.e., PM2.5) lead to significant increases in the number of vet visits for both cats and dogs. In aggregate, these estimates indicate that reducing ambient PM2.5 levels to a maximum of 5 μg/m3 as recommended by the World Health Organization would result in eighty thousand fewer vet visits each year (a 0.4% reduction).

Abstract: Landowner windfalls

The clean energy transition has been a boon for many rural landowners who have had renewable energy projects sited on their land. However, research on these landowners and the windfalls they have received remains very limited. Using land title records for Scotland I show that 90% of wind power capacity is located on land owned by less than two hundred landowners. While there are some public bodies and a small amount of direct ownership by developers, most capacity is on land leased by private individuals, companies and trusts. I estimate the deployment of wind power could already represent around £100 million per year in lease payments for these landowners. Notably, many landowners with suitable land still host no wind capacity, indicating that significant renewable potential is not being exploited.

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