Lead Exposure and Behavior: Effects on Antisocial and Risky Behavior among Children and Adolescents

Jessica Wolpaw Reyes

No 20366, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: It is well known that exposure to lead has numerous adverse effects on behavior and development. Using data on two cohorts of children from the NLSY, this paper investigates the effect of early childhood lead exposure on behavior problems from childhood through early adulthood. I find large negative consequences of early childhood lead exposure, in the form of an unfolding series of adverse behavioral outcomes: behavior problems as a child, pregnancy and aggression as a teen, and criminal behavior as a young adult. At the levels of lead that were the norm in United States until the late 1980s, estimated elasticities of these behaviors with respect to lead range between 0.1 and 1.0.

JEL-codes: I18 J13 K49 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-law
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Published as Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, 2015. "LEAD EXPOSURE AND BEHAVIOR: EFFECTS ON ANTISOCIAL AND RISKY BEHAVIOR AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS," Economic Inquiry, vol 53(3), pages 1580-1605.

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