{"691631":{"#nid":"691631","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How Does Wildfire Smoke Affect the Economy?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWildfires in the United States are getting bigger and the season is getting longer, fueled by hotter and drier weather from climate change. Even when fires are hundreds of miles away, the wildfire smoke can still harm people\u0027s health and create economic costs through air pollution, said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.caseyjwichman.com\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022(opens in a new window)\u0022\u003ECasey Wichman,\u003C\/a\u003E an associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Economics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Air Quality Index (AQI) measures how clean or polluted the air is. A healthy AQI is between zero and 50, but when wildfire smoke blows in and settles over cities, the AQI can reach levels of 500 or more. Poor air quality changes where and how people spend their time and money, reduces productivity (even for those working indoors), and increases healthcare costs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEnvironmental regulations like the Clean Air Act dramatically improved our air quality over the past 40 years, but as wildfire season becomes the new normal, wildfire smoke is eroding those gains,\u201d Wichman said. According to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06522-6\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022(opens in a new window)\u0022\u003Erecent research,\u003C\/a\u003E wildfire smoke has erased about a quarter of the progress made over previous decades, and more than half in many western states.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/featured-news\/2026\/08\/wildfire-smoke-affect-economy\u0022\u003ERead Full Story on the IAC News Page\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWildfires in the United States are getting bigger and the season is getting longer, fueled by hotter and drier weather from climate change. Even when fires are hundreds of miles away, the wildfire smoke can still harm people\u0027s health and create economic costs through air pollution, said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.caseyjwichman.com\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022(opens in a new window)\u0022\u003ECasey Wichman,\u003C\/a\u003E an associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Economics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Air Quality Index (AQI) measures how clean or polluted the air is. A healthy AQI is between zero and 50, but when wildfire smoke blows in and settles over cities, the AQI can reach levels of 500 or more. Poor air quality changes where and how people spend their time and money, reduces productivity (even for those working indoors), and increases healthcare costs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEnvironmental regulations like the Clean Air Act dramatically improved our air quality over the past 40 years, but as wildfire season becomes the new normal, wildfire smoke is eroding those gains,\u201d Wichman said. According to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06522-6\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022(opens in a new window)\u0022\u003Erecent research,\u003C\/a\u003E wildfire smoke has erased about a quarter of the progress made over previous decades, and more than half in many western states.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech economist Casey Wichman explains how increased wildfire smoke from climate change affects spending, productivity, and healthcare costs."}],"uid":"36413","created_gmt":"2026-08-12 19:02:31","changed_gmt":"2026-08-12 19:06:07","author":"pdevarajan3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-08-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-08-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680847":{"id":"680847","type":"image","title":"CaseyWichmanSQUARE--40-.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECasey Wichman, Associate Professor, Georgia Tech School of Economics.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1786561359","gmt_created":"2026-08-12 19:02:39","changed":"1786561359","gmt_changed":"2026-08-12 19:02:39","alt":"Casey Wichman, Associate Professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Economics.","file":{"fid":"265174","name":"CaseyWichmanSQUARE--40-.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/12\/CaseyWichmanSQUARE--40-.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/12\/CaseyWichmanSQUARE--40-.png","mime":"image\/png","size":448644,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/12\/CaseyWichmanSQUARE--40-.png?itok=GxjiNJf0"}}},"media_ids":["680847"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/featured-news\/2026\/08\/wildfire-smoke-affect-economy","title":"Read Full Story on IAC News Page"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}