Air pollution and infant health: What can we learn from California's recent experience?

Janet Currie, Matthew Neidell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

416 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examine the impact of air pollution on infant death in California over the 1990s. Our work offers several innovations: first, most previous studies examine populations subject to far greater levels of pollution. Second, many studies examine a single pollutant in isolation. We examine three "criteria" pollutants in a common framework. Third, we use rich individual-level data and pollution measured at the weekly level. Our most novel finding is a significant effect of CO on infant mortality: we find that reductions in carbon monoxide over the 1990s saved approximately 1000 infant lives in California.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1003-1030
Number of pages28
JournalQuarterly Journal of Economics
Volume120
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2005
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Economics and Econometrics

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