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Asthma Patients' Activities and Air Pollution: A Semiparametric Censored Regression Analysis

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Abstract

Asthma patients' health status may be especially sensitive to some types of air pollution, but the evidence on this is mixed. We explore the effects of ground-level ozone on asthma patient's activities, breaking apart the usual aggregated category of leisure into indoor and outdoor activities, and differentiating those by whether the activities were active or inactive. Applying the semiparametric censored estimation method we demonstrate that even though the period over which activities were observed was relatively low in ozone levels, there is a significant impact of ozone on a few activities. The (non-ozone) economic and demographic variables in the model play significant roles in explaining the allocation of time among seven activities, suggesting the suitability of the approach for other household decision-making contexts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4518, USA

    Steven T. Yen

  2. Department of Resource Economics and Statistics, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557-0105, USA

    W. Douglass Shaw

  3. Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI, 53190-1790, USA

    Mark E. Eiswerth

Authors
  1. Steven T. Yen
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  2. W. Douglass Shaw
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  3. Mark E. Eiswerth
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Correspondence to Steven T. Yen.

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Yen, S.T., Douglass Shaw, W. & Eiswerth, M.E. Asthma Patients' Activities and Air Pollution: A Semiparametric Censored Regression Analysis. Review of Economics of the Household 2, 73–88 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:REHO.0000018023.60325.70

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