The Price of Pollution and Health: an Hedonic Approach

International audienceThis paper examines the impact of a reduction in sulfur dioxide concentration (SO2)in France on both health outcomes and property prices, at a municipality level, from2008 to 2011. The paper aims to compare people’s willingness to pay for perceiveddifferences in environmental attributes and the real cost in terms of health they are ex-posed to. To do so, I conduct a hedonic price method analysis using the recent closureaffecting one oil refinery in the north of France, in September 2009, as a natural experi-ment. This contribution shows, first, that a long term shut down in the refining processleads to a reduction in sulfur dioxide concentration. I then use this exogenous shockto assess the impact of a change in air pollution concentration on hospital respiratoryadmission and property prices. The estimates suggest that the hedonic approach maynot always reflect the true environmental health risks