The cough set in the next day, and I haven’t been able to kick it since. The doctor tells me I’m suffering from irritant bronchitis and that it should go away with time.
Read more: What Living Through the Hottest July Ever Looked Like Across the U.S.
Perhaps the most obvious lesson is the undeniable economic effects of wildfire smoke. We see it clearly in the data. A 2024 study published in the The Review of Economics and Statistics found that a single day of wildfire smoke reduces quarterly per-capita earnings in affected U.S. counties by about 0.1%. In aggregate, the study estimates wildfire smoke reduces U.S. labor income by about 2%.
Nonetheless, at the end of the day, the economy absorbs these costs. At the local level, however, that may not be possible much longer as fires occur more frequently. While a fire generally cannot occur in the same place year after year, the smoke will often hit the same places over and over again. A company with operations concentrated in affected geographies faces real operational risk. And that says nothing of the very real human health consequences for affected individuals.
Since my fateful two-block jog, I’ve also been wondering about psychology and human behavior. Most immediately, I wondered, why was I so stupid? I write about these things. I yelled at my dad for not wearing a mask amid the Los Angeles fires. In short, I know better. More generally, what does that say about our broader reluctance to take climate change seriously even though we know better?
But I was also intrigued by a smaller study looking at the response to fires published in the Journal of Community Health last year. Researchers found in general that study participants responded to fire-induced smoke pollution with smart interventions, like halting outdoor exercise and closing windows. But, at the same time, participants were constantly evaluating tradeoffs. Will it be too hot, for example, if I close the window?
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