Does air pollution affect the accumulation of technological innovative human capital? Empirical evidence from China and India

Recently, some high-skilled workers tend to escape from areas with severe air pollution. The phenomenon is more prominent in two emerging economies, China and India, and they are facing the brain drain caused by air pollution. This paper establishes a partial equilibrium model about the relationship of air pollution and the flow of technological innovative professionals (TIP), and for the first time, examines the effect of air pollution on the accumulation of technological innovative human capital based on cross-country data from China and India. We find that air pollution will reduce the stock of TIP in some regions. The estimation results show that a 1% increase in the PM2.5 concentration of China's cities leads to an approximate 146 people decrease in the stock of TIP, while a 1% increase in the PM10 concentration of Indian states leads to a 0.127% decrease in the stock of TIP. Further analysis of regional differences indicates that air pollution has a significant negative effect on the stock of TIP in economically developed areas of China, but has little effect on that in underdeveloped areas of China. Moreover, the results of robustness tests prove the stability of the findings in this study. This paper concludes with suggestions on how the country, local governments, enterprises, and research institutions could better deal with air pollution, attract and retain TIP, and effectively reduce brain drain. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study examines the impact of air pollution on the accumulation of technological innovative human capital, finding that it reduces the stock of TIP in certain regions. Air pollution has a significant negative effect on the stock of TIP in economically developed areas of China, but has little effect on underdeveloped areas of China.