PRESCRIBED BURNS, SMOKE EXPOSURE, AND INFANT HEALTH

Benjamin Jones and Robert Berrens

Contemporary Economic Policy, 2021, vol. 39, issue 2, 292-309

Abstract: Prescribed burning is used for reducing future wildfire risk; however, it creates smoke, which can affect human health. Using newly available high‐frequency daily data (2015–2017) on PM2.5 specifically attributed to smoke from prescribed burns in Georgia, USA, this analysis investigates infant health externalities connected to these burns. Cumulatively, over an average pregnancy, smoke from prescribed burns is associated with a 1.02 percentage point increase in instances of low birth weight and prematurity, each. For every $1 spent on prescribed burning, $0.43–$2.46 in state‐wide low birth weight and prematurity hospitalization costs are created. Various robustness and specification checks are performed. (JEL Q23, Q53, Q51, I18, J13)

Date: 2021
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