do you think the efforts to improve air quality are worth the economic goals?
What efforts, and more importantly, what economic goals?
Each area has differing air quality issues. Removing health toxins (Sulfur, aromatics) are most important. Lead dust removal is most important in factories and shops. Removal of asbestos dust in auto shops is most important.
So you have to get specific on what you mean by efforts to improve air quality.
Then, economic goals: does this include health, and reduction of birth defects? How are the economics of this computed.
It is not useful to generalize.