Noise Pollution and Violence | Timo Heer

Date: 23 Jan 2019 12:30 pm — 2:00 pm
Speaker(s):
Venue: Fawcett House (Formerly Tower 2), Room 9.04, London School of Economics

Timo Heer will be discussing his paper: Noise Pollution and Violence

Abstract

Exposure to noise pollution carries some health risks that also come with air pollution. However, noise also affects the brain regions responsible for self-control and patience, and may therefore have a direct, contemporaneous effect on behavior. Exploiting short-run variation in aircraft landing approaches, I identify the effect of noise on violence. A 1-dB rise in noise levels increases the assault rate by 2.6%. The victims are predominantly male adults attacked by strangers. Reducing noise levels by 1 dB would spare 18,000 assault victims in the US and Europe annually, suggesting that noise pollution is a major externality of economic activity.

12:30-14:00.

Save this event to your calendar:
- add to Google Calendar
- add to Yahoo Calendar
- add to Outlook.com Calendar
or download for iCal / Outlook