In this paper, we study the impact of air pollution on Chinese professional football players’ performance. Our primary research question is whether the negative effects of air pollution can be mitigated by adaptation, and which cohort of players can have higher adaptability. We find that a higher pollution level during the game, relative to the adapted pollution level in players’ home cities, has a negative and significant impact on the players’ efforts and accuracy. The impact of non-adapted air pollution can be greatly offset by the home advantage, but not by personal attributes such as the higher ability.
ArchsmithJ.HeyesA.SaberianS. (2018). Air quality and error quantity: Pollution and performance in a high-skilled, quality-focused occupation. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 5(4), 827–863. https://doi.org/10.1086/698728
2.
BeattyT.ShimshackJ. (2014). Air pollution and children's Respiratory health: A cohort analysis. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 67(1), 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2013.10.002
3.
CarlingC.WilliamsA.ReillyT. (2005). Handbook of soccer match analysis. Routledge.
4.
ChangT.Graff ZivinJ.GrossT.NeidellM. (2019). The effect of pollution on worker productivity: Evidence from call center workers in China. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11(1), 151–172. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160436
5.
DeryuginaT.HeutelG.MillerN.MolitorD.ReifJ. (2019). The mortality and medical costs of air pollution: Evidence from changes in wind direction. American Economic Review, 109(12), 4178–4219. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20180279
6.
Graff ZivinJ.NeidellM. (2012). The impact of pollution on worker productivity. American Economic Review, 102(7), 3652–3673. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.7.3652
GrothmannT.PattA. (2005). Adaptive capacity and human cognition: The process of individual adaptation to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 15(3), 199–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.01.002
9.
GuoJ.ZhangX.GuF.ZhangH.FanY. (2020). Does air pollution stimulate electric vehicle sales? Empirical evidence from twenty major cities in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 249, 119372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119372
10.
GuoM.FuS. (2019). Running with a mask? The effect of air pollution on marathon runners’ performance. Journal of Sports Economics, 20(7), 903–928. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527002518822701
11.
HackneyJ.LinnW.MohlerJ.CollierC. (1977). Adaptation to short-term respiratory effects of ozone in men exposed repeatedly. Journal of Applied Physiology, 43(1), 82–85. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1977.43.1.82
12.
HamadeA.TankersleyC. (2009). Interstrain variation in cardiac and respiratory adaptation to repeated ozone and particulate matter exposures. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 296(4), 1202–1215. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.90808.2008
13.
HanL.ZhouW.LiW.LiL. (2014). Impact of urbanization level on urban air quality: A case of fine particles (PM2.5) in Chinese cities. Environmental Pollution, 194, 163–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.07.022
14.
HaoY.LiuY. (2016). The influential factors of urban PM2.5 concentrations in China: A spatial econometric analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 1443–1453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.005
15.
HeJ.LiuH.SalvoA. (2019). Severe air pollution and labor productivity: Evidence from industrial towns in China. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11(1), 173–201. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170286
16.
HochachkaP. (1998). Mechanism and evolution of hypoxia-tolerance in humans. Journal of Experimental Biology, 201(8), 1243–1254. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.201.8.1243
KlingenJ.OmmerenJ. (2020). Risk attitude and air pollution: Evidence from chess. Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 2020-027/VIII, Tinbergen Institute. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3609237
19.
LichterA.PestelN.SommerE. (2017). Productivity effects of air pollution: Evidence from professional soccer. Labour Economics, 48, 54–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2017.06.002
20.
LiuH.LuJ.SalvoA. (2019). Willingness to fight on: Environmental valuation in dynamic competitions. Working paper.
21.
MäkinenT. (2007). Human cold exposure, adaptation, and performance in high latitude environments. American Journal of Human Biology, 19(2), 155–164. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20627
PollardR. (2002). Evidence of a reduced home advantage when a team moves to a new stadium. Journal of Sports Sciences, 20(12), 969–973. https://doi.org/10.1080/026404102321011724
24.
VenN. (2011). Supporters are not necessary for the home advantage: Evidence from same-stadium derbies and games without an audience. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(12), 2785–2792. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00865.x
