Outdoor light pollution and COVID-19: The Italian case

There is a wide debate on the connections between pollution and COVID-19 propagation. This note faces this problem by exploring the peculiar case of the correlation between outdoor light pollution and the ratio between infected people and population. We discuss the empirical case of Italian provinces (NUTS-3 level), which represent an interesting context for the noticeable entity of contagions and for the relevant level of outdoor light pollution. The empirical results, based on a multivariate cross section model controlling for income, density, population ageing and environmental pollution, show that there is a positive relation between outdoor light pollution per capita and the strength of COVID-19 infection. This effect is statistically more robust in a non linear specification than in a linear one. We interpret our findings as a piece of evidence related to the impact of outdoor light pollution on human health, thus suggesting policies aimed at reducing this important source of pollution.