Yep, it's an old school choke stove system, providing warm air to the intake during cold start. Probably has some small affect on increasing cold gas mileage, as well as cold start driveablilty.
I was amazed to find one on my 89. I hooked everything back up so that it works. I see no advantage to removing it on a daily driver.
If you remove it, make sure to remove and plug all of the vacuum lines.