Improving the air quality in New York City would enhance children’s future earnings, a new study suggests. The study suggests that reducing the city’s air pollution would lead to sizable economic gains among children by increasing their IQs.

This study is the first to estimate the cost of IQ losses that result from air pollution exposure. The study is based on previous research regarding prenatal exposure to air pollutants among low-income children. Frederica Perera, PhD, the study’s lead author, was joined by colleagues at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health.

For the study, researchers made their calculations with a hypothesized modest reduction of .25 nanograms per cubic meter air (ng/m3) of ambient concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), a chemical family that is created by burning fossil fuels that are common in urban air.

The research focused on 63,462 New York City children who were born in 2002 to women on Medicaid, a group that shared the same socio-demographic characteristics as the cohort studied by Dr. Perera and colleagues linking IQ and PAH.  Researchers used methods in published studies estimating earnings potential related to exposures to lead and mercury. Gains in IQ related to the hypothetical 25 percent reduction in PAH translated to increased lifetime earnings of $215 million.

The authors said in a statement that the study results are likely to be applicable to a broader range of children, not just those in NYC.

Dr. Perera also said in a statement, “Our analysis suggests that a modest reduction in urban air pollution would provide substantial economic benefits and help children realize their full potential.”