Measuring the Social Net Benefits of COVID-19 Restrictions: The Case of Reduced Vehicle Use in a Pollution-Prone Region of Utah  

作　　者：Ethan Hartley Arthur J. Caplan Ethan Hartley;Arthur J. Caplan(Department of Economics, University of Hawai’i at Mänoa, Honolulu, USA;Department of Applied Economics, Utah State University, Logan, USA)

机构地区：[1]Department of Economics, University of Hawai’i at Mä noa, Honolulu, USA [2]Department of Applied Economics, Utah State University, Logan, USA

出　　处：《Journal of Environmental Protection》2021年第11期887-902,共16页环境保护（英文）

摘　　要：A number of natural experiments have recently found that COVID-19 restrictions imposed in nations worldwide are correlated with short-term reductions—in some cases dramatic reductions—in mobile-source air pollutants. Noticeably absent from these studies are estimates of the social net benefits associated with the changes in human behavior underlying the pandemic-induced effects. Using readily available data provided by the state of Utah and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool (COBRA), we find that daily social net benefit was positive during a pandemic-induced shutdown from March to April, 2020 in Utah’s Wasatch Front region solely when COBRA’s “high” health benefit estimate from combined reductions in PM_2.5 and NO_x concentrations are weighed against the region’s “low” vehicle-trip cost estimate. All other scenarios correspond with negative net benefit estimates, <i>i.e.</i>, when high and low benefit estimates of reductions solely in PM_2.5 concentrations as well as for combined reductions in PM_2.5 and NO_x concentrations are weighed against the region’s high vehicle-trip cost estimate. Generally speaking, social net benefits are higher for two of the Wasatch Front’s four counties.A number of natural experiments have recently found that COVID-19 restrictions imposed in nations worldwide are correlated with short-term reductions—in some cases dramatic reductions—in mobile-source air pollutants. Noticeably absent from these studies are estimates of the social net benefits associated with the changes in human behavior underlying the pandemic-induced effects. Using readily available data provided by the state of Utah and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool (COBRA), we find that daily social net benefit was positive during a pandemic-induced shutdown from March to April, 2020 in Utah’s Wasatch Front region solely when COBRA’s “high” health benefit estimate from combined reductions in PM_2.5 and NO_x concentrations are weighed against the region’s “low” vehicle-trip cost estimate. All other scenarios correspond with negative net benefit estimates, <i>i.e.</i>, when high and low benefit estimates of reductions solely in PM_2.5 concentrations as well as for combined reductions in PM_2.5 and NO_x concentrations are weighed against the region’s high vehicle-trip cost estimate. Generally speaking, social net benefits are higher for two of the Wasatch Front’s four counties.

关 键 词：Social Net Benefits COVID-19 Restrictions Mobile-Source Air Pollution 

分 类 号：TP3[自动化与计算机技术—计算机科学与技术]