"Does Pollution Increase School Absences?"

I would like to test this to see whether pollution affects undergraduate lecture attendance.

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"Does Pollution Increase School Absences?"
NBER Working Paper No. W13252

Contact: JANET CURRIE
Columbia University - Department of Economics,
University of California, Los Angeles - Department
of Economics, National Bureau of Economic Research
(NBER), Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Email: jc2663@columbia.edu
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=49480

Co-Author: ERIC A. HANUSHEK
Stanford University - Hoover Institution on War,
Revolution and Peace, National Bureau of Economic
Research (NBER), CESifo (Center for Economic
Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)
Email: hanushek@hoover.stanford.edu
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=57341

Co-Author: E. KAHN
Affiliation Unknown
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=840063

Co-Author: MATTHEW NEIDELL
University of Chicago - Department of Economics and
CISES
Email: mneidell@uchicago.edu
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=355411

Co-Author: STEVEN G. RIVKIN
Amherst College - Department of Economics, National
Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Email: sgrivkin@amherst.edu
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=57346

Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1000356

ABSTRACT: We examine the effect of air pollution on school absences using unique administrative data for elementary and middle school children in the 39 largest school districts in Texas. These data are merged with information from monitors maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency. To control for potentially confounding factors, we adopt a difference-in-difference-in differences strategy, and control for persistent characteristics of schools, years, and attendance periods in order to focus on variations in pollution within school-year-attendance period cells. We find that high levels of carbon monoxide (CO) significantly increase absences, even when they are below federal air quality standards.
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