TY - JOUR
T1 - Do low levels of blood lead reduce children's future test scores?
AU - Aizer, Anna
AU - Currie, Janet
AU - Simon, Peter
AU - Vivier, Patrick
N1 - Funding Information:
*Aizer: Department of Economics, Brown University, 64 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912, and NBER (email: [email protected]); Currie: Department of Economics, Princeton University, 316 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, and NBER (email: [email protected]); Simon: Dept of Epidemiology, Brown University, Box G-S121-2, 121 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02912 (email: [email protected]); Vivier: Department of Community Health, Brown University, Box G-S121 Providence, RI 02903 (email: [email protected]). We thank Rebecca Lee, Kim Pierson, Joel Stewart, and Alyssa Sylvaria of the Providence Plan for their generosity and help with the data, Michelle Kollett of the Rhode Island Department of Health, and Darlene Price of the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Housing for their generosity and help with the data on certificates, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for financial support. We also thank Michelle Marcus, Elsa Mora, Molly Schnell, and Ruby Steedle for outstanding research assistance, as well as Pedro Dal Bó and seminar participants at the Harvard-BU-MIT joint seminar, the University of Wisconsin Institute on Poverty, Yale, LSE, PSE, the Rand Corporation, the New York Federal Reserve, University College London, the NBER Summer Institute, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. The authors are solely responsible for any errors.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - We construct a unique individual-level dataset linking preschool blood lead levels with third grade test scores for Rhode Island children born 1997-2005. Using two identification strategies, we show for the first time that reductions of lead from even historically low levels have significant positive effects. A one-unit decrease in average blood lead levels reduces the probability of being substantially below proficient in reading (math) by 0.96 (0.79) percentage points on a baseline of 12 (16) percent. Since disadvantaged children have greater exposure to lead, lead poisoning may be one of the causes of continuing disparities in test scores.
AB - We construct a unique individual-level dataset linking preschool blood lead levels with third grade test scores for Rhode Island children born 1997-2005. Using two identification strategies, we show for the first time that reductions of lead from even historically low levels have significant positive effects. A one-unit decrease in average blood lead levels reduces the probability of being substantially below proficient in reading (math) by 0.96 (0.79) percentage points on a baseline of 12 (16) percent. Since disadvantaged children have greater exposure to lead, lead poisoning may be one of the causes of continuing disparities in test scores.
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U2 - 10.1257/app.20160404
DO - 10.1257/app.20160404
M3 - Article
C2 - 30867889
AN - SCOPUS:85041061009
SN - 1945-7782
VL - 10
SP - 307
EP - 341
JO - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
JF - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
IS - 1
ER -