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Author: Persico, Claudia
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Persico, Claudia
Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes
IZA Discussion Paper No. 12965, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), February 2020.
Also: https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/12965/can-pollution-cause-poverty-the-effects-of-pollution-on-educational-health-and-economic-outcomes
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Keyword(s): Child Development; Disability; Educational Attainment; Environment, Pollution/Urban Density; Geocoded Data; Poverty; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Siblings; Wage Penalty/Career Penalty

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although industrial plants, known as Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites, exist in every major city of the United States releasing billions of pounds of toxic substances annually, there is little evidence about how these pollutants might harm child development and children's long run outcomes. Using the detailed geocoded data that follows national representative cohorts of children born to the NLSY respondents over time with detailed information on families, locations, health, disability and labor market outcomes, I compare siblings who were gestating before versus after a TRI site opened or closed within one mile of their home. In other words, I compare siblings in the same family whose family does not move between births where one or more child was exposed to TRI pollution during gestation and other siblings were not exposed because the plant opened or closed in between the conceptions of different children in the same family. I find that children who were exposed prenatally to TRI pollution have lower wages, are more likely to be in poverty as adults, have fewer years of completed education, are less likely to graduate high school, and are more likely to have a disability.
Bibliography Citation
Persico, Claudia. "Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes." IZA Discussion Paper No. 12965, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), February 2020.