The Effects of Hazardous Chemical Cleanups on Birth Outcomes

Dennis Guignet, Kyle Vetter, Linda Bui, Heather Klemick and Ron Shadbegian

No 25-10, Working Papers from Department of Economics, Appalachian State University

Abstract: Focusing on hazardous chemical cleanups under the US Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), we employ a reverse difference-in-differences design to estimate the effects of cleanup on birth outcomes. Data on the population of births in North Carolina from 1990-2019 are linked to cleanups at contaminated sites across the state. We find robust evidence that for children born to mothers residing within 250 meters, cleanup leads to an almost one week increase in gestational age, and a 6 to 8 percentage point reduction in the risk of preterm birth. Cleanup may also lead to improvements in birthweight, but these results are not statistically significant across all models. Assessments of the post-treatment trends and demographic sorting support a causal interpretation of the results. We illustrate how these quantified improvements in newborn health can be monetized to inform local land use and cleanup decisions, as well as future regulations under RCRA. Key Words: birth, childrenÕs health, cleanup, exposure, hazardous, health, RCRA

JEL-codes: D62 I18 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env and nep-hea
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://econ.appstate.edu/RePEc/pdf/wp2510.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:apl:wpaper:25-10

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Department of Economics, Appalachian State University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by O. Ashton Morgan ().