Air pollution and post-COVID-19 work resumption: evidence from China

To cope with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), national or sub-national regions have carried out many powerful anti-pandemic measures such as locking down, which may improve their regional air quality. This paper examines the relation between regional air pollution and work resumption from a novel post-pandemic perspective. Using a unique panel dataset on China's detailed industrial electricity consumption, this paper does not find a positive relation between post-COVID-19 work resumption and regional air pollution during China's early-stage recovery. This result is obtained after controlling for province and date fixed effects, as well as local weather conditions. However, the positive relations are found in a particular sub-sample of large industrial enterprises and a particular sub-sample of April. These findings indicate that large industrial enterprises may recover first, and the resumption is progressing gradually. Finally, several policy implications are provided, which are essentially helpful for other countries' post-pandemic recovery.

Automated summary

The study found no positive correlation between post-COVID-19 work resumption and regional air pollution during China's early recovery period. However, positive correlations were found in specific sub-samples of large industrial enterprises and in the month of April, suggesting that large industrial enterprises may resume work first and the resumption is progressing gradually. Several policy implications are provided, which are essential for the post-pandemic recovery of other countries.