Replication Files: Impact of Air Pollution on Cognitive Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Air pollution affects respiratory health, the central nervous system, and cognitive development, which may in turn affect student performance on standardized tests. To estimate the causal relationship between air pollution and students’ test scores, I use the collapse of I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a natural experiment which lead to a year-long improvement in air quality for nearby schools. Using a Two-way Fixed Effects (TWFE) model as well as a Synthetic Difference-in-Differences model, I do not find any evidence that improved air quality lead to improved test scores, which suggests that test-day exposure to air pollution may have a distinct cognitive effect compared to long-term exposures.