The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating

Diane Alexander and Hannes Schwandt

No 12427, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Car exhaust is a major source of air pollution, but little is known about its impacts on population health. We exploit the dispersion of emissions-cheating diesel cars - which secretly polluted up to 150 times as much as gasoline cars - across the United States from 2008-2015 as a natural experiment to measure the health impact of car pollution. Using the universe of vehicle registrations, we demonstrate that a 10 percent cheating-induced increase in car exhaust increases rates of low birth weight and acute asthma attacks among children by 1.9 and 8.0 percent, respectively. These health impacts occur at all pollution levels and across the entire socioeconomic spectrum.

Keywords: health; emissions-cheating; car pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I14 J13 K32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 82 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-hea, nep-law, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published - published in: Review of Economic Studies, 2022, 89 (6), 2872–2910

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating (2022)
Working Paper: The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating (2019)
Working Paper: The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating (2019)
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