Air pollution has a detrimental impact on population health, but the effectiveness of policy measures targeting pollution is underexplored. I exploit the natural experiment generated by the staggered implementation of low emission zones in large cities across Germany to assess their impact on health. Using register data on outpatient and inpatient health care, I find that low emission zones reduce the number of patients with cardiovascular disease by 2–3%. This effect is particularly pronounced for those over the age of 65. The findings suggest that low emission zones can be an effective way to reduce air pollution and improve health.
Air pollution has a detrimental impact on population health, but the effectiveness of policy measures targeting pollution is underexplored. I exploit the natural experiment generated by the staggered implementation of low emission zones in large cities across Germany to assess their impact on health. Using register data on outpatient and inpatient health care, I find that low emission zones reduce the number of patients with cardiovascular disease by 2–3%. This effect is particularly pronounced for those over the age of 65. The findings suggest that low emission zones can be an effective way to reduce air pollution and improve health.