 Effect of Waterborne Uranium Exposure on Human Capital Endowment ProxiesNo 1807, Working Papers from Tulane University, Department of Economics Abstract: This paper examines the causal relationship between waterborne uranium exposure and birth outcomes in order to more fully understand the external costs of the activities that increase the probability of human exposure to uranium, such as the prevalent military use of depleted uranium munitions. I use the Church Rock Uranium Mill industrial accident as a natural experiment, in which children born in specific counties are exposed to uranium via a contaminated water supply. I examine changes in birth outcomes, which approximate human capital endowment at birth, and I find that waterborne uranium contamination does not manifest via observable decreases in birth outcomes, specifically birth weight, or via changes in gender ratios. I also provide evidence suggesting that migratory responses to the contamination are not driving a change in the population's determinants of birth outcomes. Collectively, these results support modern militaries' claims that the risk of unintentional harm by uranium based weapons are "negligible". Keywords: Uranium; birth outcomes; human capital endowment; Church Rock (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tul:wpaper:1807 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers from Tulane University, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.