In this paper, I study the impact of early life exposure to air pollution caused by the 1997 Indonesian forest fires on cognitive ability, an important determinant of success in the labor market. To isolate the effect of pollution exposure, I use a difference-in-differences approach where exposure to pollution is determined by timing and region of birth. The results suggest that pollution lowered cognitive test score at age 8–9 years by 6 percent. I also estimate how this might translate into lost earnings on a different but comparable sample. The estimates suggest that natural disasters can reduce earnings by 5 to 8 percent by hampering cognitive ability. Lost earnings due to interrupted cognitive development could be an additional cost of exposure to air pollution.

中文翻译：

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早年暴露于空气污染、认知发展和劳动力市场结果

在本文中，我研究了早年暴露于 1997 年印度尼西亚森林火灾造成的空气污染对认知能力的影响，这是劳动力市场成功的重要决定因素。为了隔离污染暴露的影响，我使用了差异中的差异方法，其中污染暴露取决于出生时间和地区。结果表明，污染使 8-9 岁的认知测试分数降低了 6%。我还估计这可能如何转化为不同但可比较的样本的收入损失。估计表明，自然灾害会阻碍认知能力，从而使收入减少 5% 至 8%。由于认知发展中断而导致的收入损失可能是暴露于空气污染的额外成本。