Working Paper: NBER ID: w14977
Authors: Nikhil Agarwal; Chanont Banternghansa; Linda Bui
Abstract: We examine the effect of exposure to toxic releases that are tracked by the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) on county-level infant and fetal mortality rates in the United States between 1989-2002. We find significant adverse effects of TRI concentrations on infant mortality rates, but not on fetal mortality rates. In particular, we estimate that the average county-level decrease in aggregate TRI concentrations saved in excess of 25,000 infant lives from 1989-2002. Using a value of life of $1.8M - $8.7M, the savings in lives would be valued at $45B - $217.5B. We also find that the effect of toxic exposure on health outcomes varies across pollution media: air pollution has a larger impact on health outcomes than either water or land. And, within air pollution, releases of carcinogens are particularly problematic for infant health outcomes. We do not, however, find any significant effect on health outcomes from exposure to two criteria air pollutants -- PM10 and ozone.
Keywords: toxic exposure; infant health; fetal health; pollution; TRI
JEL Codes: I12; Q51
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| TRI concentrations (L72) | infant mortality rates (J13) |
| TRI concentrations (L72) | fetal health outcomes (I14) |
| air pollution (Q53) | infant health outcomes (I14) |
| carcinogenic air releases (Q53) | infant health (I12) |