The Effect of Open-Air Waste Burning on Infant Health: Evidence from Government Failure in Lebanon

Pierre Mouganie, Ruba Ajeeb and Mark Hoekstra

No 26835, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: An estimated 40 percent of the world's garbage is burned in open-air fires, which are responsible for as much as half of the global emissions of some pollutants. However, there is little evidence on the health consequences of open-air waste burning. In this paper, we estimate the effect of in utero exposure to open-air waste burning on birth outcomes. We do so by examining the consequences of the Lebanese garbage crisis of 2015, which led to an abrupt, unanticipated increase in waste burning in residential neighborhoods in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. To identify effects, we exploit variation in exposure across neighborhoods before and after the crisis. Results indicate exposure had large impacts on birth outcomes; in utero exposure to at least one open-air waste burn increased premature births by 4 percentage points (50%) and low birth weight by 5 to 8 percentage points (80 - 120%). Given previous research documenting the long-run effects of prenatal shocks on adult health, human capital, and labor market outcomes, this suggests open-air waste burning imposes significant costs on populations worldwide.

JEL-codes: H41 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara and nep-hea
Note: CH DEV EH
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w26835.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Effect of Open-Air Waste Burning on Infant Health: Evidence from Government Failure in Lebanon (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26835

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w26835

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().