The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating

Hannes Schwandt and Diane Alexander

No 13805, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Car exhaust is a major source of air pollution, but little is known about its impacts on population health. We exploit the dispersion of emissions-cheating diesel cars—which secretly polluted up to 150 times as much as gasoline cars—across the United States from 2008-2015 as a natural experiment to measure the health impact of car pollution. Using the universe of vehicle registrations, we demonstrate that a 10 percent cheating-induced increase in car exhaust increases rates of low birth weight and acute asthma attacks among children by 1.9 and 8.0 percent, respectively. These health impacts occur at all pollution levels and across the entire socioeconomic spectrum.

Keywords: Car pollution; Health; Emissions cheating (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I14 J13 K32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-hea and nep-tre
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating (2022)
Working Paper: The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating (2019)
Working Paper: The Impact of Car Pollution on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Emissions Cheating (2019)
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