Working Paper: NBER ID: w1928
Authors: Theodore J. Joyce; Michael Grossman; Fred Goldman
Abstract: This paper contains estimates of the impacts of air pollutants on race-specific neonatal mortality rates based on data for heavily populated counties of the U.S. in 1977. Unlike previous research in this area, these estimates are obtained from awell specified behavioral model of the production of health, which is estimated with the appropriate simultaneous equations techniques. The results suggest that sulfur dioxide is the dominant air pollutant in newborn survival outcomes. There is also evidence that an increase in sulfur dioxide raises the neonatal mortality rate by raising the percentage of low-birth weight births. Based on marginal-willingness-to-pay computations, we estimate that the benefits of a 10 percent reduction insulfur dioxide levels range between $54 million and $1.09 billion in 1977 dollars.
Keywords: Air Pollution; Neonatal Mortality; Health Economics; Willingness to Pay
JEL Codes: I12; Q53
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| sulfur dioxide (Q53) | neonatal mortality rate (J13) |
| sulfur dioxide (Q53) | low birth weight births (J13) |
| low birth weight births (J13) | neonatal mortality rate (J13) |