Long-term effects of air pollution on Singapore’s national university admissions

Abstract

We investigate long-term impacts of exposure to four episodes of haze pollution on national university admission outcomes in Singapore. We find that compared to the unexposed groups, those who were exposed in-utero during the haze episodes of April 1977 and October 1983 obtained significantly lower admission scores and faced lower admission rates to university, with more severe effects for females. However, we do not detect negative effects among those who were exposed in the haze episodes of October 1991, August to October 1994 and August to October 1997 – which were arguably more severe pollution events. These findings present a more nuanced view of the long-term effects of exposure air pollution: while results from the first two episodes show that the long-term impacts are persistent over time, results from the latter three episodes suggest that negative impacts can possibly be mitigated due to economic development and protective measures.