Abstract
Air pollution can have a significant impact on the health of susceptible groups including infants and elderly. However, there are few studies examining the impact of air pollution on the physical and mental health of adolescents and young adults. The research project will conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial which randomly assigns students in around 50 middle schools across China into treatment and control groups. Classrooms in the treatment group will be equipped with air purifiers and air monitors, or air monitors only, while the control group receives no treatment. The air purifiers are expected to improve air quality in the classroom, especially when there are pollution episodes. We will measure and compare student performance between the treatment group and control group in a 6-month period, including physical health, mental health, cognitive and non-cognitive skills to examine the effect of air quality and its intervention. The research findings will fill a key research gap in understanding the social costs of air pollution and the costs and benefits of interventions, which will provide important policy implications for protecting the youth and promoting human capital accumulation in developing and developed countries.