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The Asian Games, air pollution and birth outcomes in South China: An instrumental variable approach

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  • Liu, Xiaoying
  • Miao, Huazhang
  • Behrman, Jere R.
  • Hannum, Emily
  • Liang, Zhijiang
  • Zhao, Qingguo
Abstract
We estimate the effects of air-pollution exposure on low birthweight, birthweight, and prematurity risk in South China, for all expectant mothers and by maternal age group and child sex. We do so by exploiting exogenous improvement in air quality during the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, when strict regulations were mandated to assure better air quality. We use daily air-pollution levels collected from monitoring stations in Guangzhou, the Asian Games host city, and Shenzhen, a nearby control city, between 2009 and 2011. We first show that air quality during the Asian Games significantly improved in Guangzhou, relative to Shenzhen. Next, using birth-certificate data for both cities for 2009–2011 and using expected pregnancy overlap with the Asian Games as an instrumental variable, we study the effects of three pollutants (PM10, SO2, and NO2) on birth outcomes. Four main conclusions emerge: 1) air pollutants significantly reduce average birthweight and increase preterm risk; 2) for birthweight, late pregnancy is most sensitive to PM10 exposure, but there is not consistent evidence of a sensitive period for other pollutants and outcomes; 3) for birthweight, babies of mothers who are at least 35 years old show more vulnerability to all three air pollutants; and 4) male babies show more vulnerability than female babies to PM10 and SO2, but birthweights of female babies are more sensitive than those of male babies to NO2.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Xiaoying & Miao, Huazhang & Behrman, Jere R. & Hannum, Emily & Liang, Zhijiang & Zhao, Qingguo, 2022. "The Asian Games, air pollution and birth outcomes in South China: An instrumental variable approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:44:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x21001039
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101078
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoying Liu & Jere R. Behrman & Emily Hannum & Fan Wang & Qingguo Zhao, 2022. "Same environment, stratified impacts? Air pollution, extreme temperatures, and birth weight in south China," Papers 2204.00219, arXiv.org.
    2. Wang, Mingyue & Sun, Tianshi, 2023. "Leave for where? The impact of air quality on migration: Evidence at the city-pair level in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ambient air pollution; Extreme weather; Prenatal exposure; Birth outcomes; Asia; China; Natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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