Over the past decades ambient concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) have dramatically reduced in metropolitan areas in Japan. This paper analyzes a property-level panel dataset for 1992-2015 to measure the extent to which the improved air quality was capitalized into residential land prices. Single-equation estimates show no evidence of the capitalization. To address potential endogeneity biases, I instrument SPM concentrations with municipalities’ designation status under the Automobile NOx/PM Law (ANPL), and find that the elasticity of residential land prices with respect to SPM concentration is -0.57. Using IV approach, I also find that the improvements in SPM concentrations increased inflows of migrations. These results are confirmed with a battery of robustness checks.
