Where this was said
We've Been Understating Pollution's Damage by 50%
At 48:50 · chapter starts 47:00
The Huai River cognitive findings lead Greenstone to a sweeping conclusion: if pollution impairs cognition so dramatically, and we haven't been counting that in cost-benefit analyses, we've been understating total losses from dirty air by around 50%. [1] — Michael Greenstone "Understating pollution losses by 50%: Michael Greenstone argues that because we have ignored the cognitive costs of pollution, we have been…" 46:35 That cuts both ways: the benefits of pollution reduction are also 50% larger than we've been claiming, which would justify far more stringent environmental regulations. Greenstone notes that China has achieved in five years what the US never managed after the Clean Air Act: Beijing's PM2.5 fell from over 100 µg/m³ in 2013 to just over 50 by 2018, with Greenstone estimating that a child born in 2018 will live 1.4 years longer than one born in 2013. Meanwhile, the US remains the only G7 country without a coordinated national climate policy — a striking outlier in Greenstone's assessment.
The Trump administration announced that the EPA will no longer consider the health benefits of reduced pollution when setting clean air regulations. Greenstone calls it a step that will go down in history books — and predicts dirtier air for everyone and more greenhouse gas emissions.
