Transportation Networks, Short-term Mobility, and Pollution Exposure: Evidence from High-Speed Rail in China

Can the enhanced mobility created by transportation infrastructure investments help people to avoid environmental extremes? We use transaction records from China’s card payment system to measure experienced pollution exposure (EPE)—that is, exposure based on the pollution levels at travelers’ actual locations—and evaluate how EPE was affected by the country’s high-speed railway network, even while holding pollution itself constant. Our estimates imply a reduction in EPE that corresponds to a mortality benefit of 21.3 million life-years saved, primarily due to travelers changing their destinations towards locations with predictably cleaner air.