Working Paper: NBER ID: w25681
Authors: Janjala Chirakijja; Seema Jayachandran; Pinchuan Ong
Abstract: This paper examines how the price of home heating affects mortality in the US. Exposure to cold is one reason that mortality peaks in winter, and a higher heating price increases exposure to cold by reducing heating use. It also raises energy bills, which could affect health by decreasing other health-promoting spending. Our empirical approach combines spatial variation in the energy source used for home heating and temporal variation in the national prices of natural gas versus electricity. We find that a lower heating price reduces winter mortality, driven mostly by cardiovascular and respiratory causes.
Keywords: Heating Prices; Winter Mortality; Natural Gas; Electricity
JEL Codes: I1; J14; Q41
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| lower price of heating (Q41) | reduce winter mortality (Q54) |
| decrease in natural gas prices (Q31) | avert winter deaths (I14) |
| 1% increase in heating prices (Q41) | 0.057% increase in mortality from EWM causes (I12) |
| heating prices (Q41) | affect mortality in winter months (I12) |
| higher heating prices (Q41) | disproportionately affect low-income households (R20) |