Smoke haze hurts financial markets as well as the environment

Abstract

Sydney is currently blanketed by smoke haze from severe bushfires that have burned through New South Wales. Air pollution levels on Thursday reached hazardous levels for the second time in a week. The NSW Rural Fire Service has warned that haze could be around for days. On Thursday, several locations in Sydney had air quality index levels above 1,000. Anything over 200 is considered hazardous. Health authorities in Sydney have asked children to stay indoors. You might be surprised to hear that while air pollution is bad for our health, it can also be bad for the economy. In our forthcoming study in the Journal of Corporate Finance we show that air pollution impairs forecasts by financial..