Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime

Jessica Wolpaw Reyes

No 13097, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Childhood lead exposure can lead to psychological deficits that are strongly associated with aggressive and criminal behavior. In the late 1970s in the United States, lead was removed from gasoline under the Clean Air Act. Using the sharp state-specific reductions in lead exposure resulting from this removal, this article finds that the reduction in childhood lead exposure in the late 1970s and early 1980s is responsible for significant declines in violent crime in the 1990s, and may cause further declines into the future. The elasticity of violent crime with respect to lead is estimated to be approximately 0.8.

JEL-codes: I18 K49 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-law and nep-ure
Note: CH EH LS PE EEE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (97)

Published as Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, 2007. "Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 7(1).

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