Superfund Cleanups and Infant Health
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NBER Working Paper No. 16844
Issued in March 2011
NBER Program(s):Children, Environment and Energy Economics, Health Care, Health Economics, Public Economics
We are the first to examine the effect of Superfund cleanups on infant health rather than focusing on proximity to a site. We study singleton births to mothers residing within 5km of a Superfund site between 1989-2003 in five large states. Our "difference in differences" approach compares birth outcomes before and after a site clean-up for mothers who live within 2,000 meters of the site and those who live between 2,000- 5,000 meters of a site. We find that proximity to a Superfund site before cleanup is associated with a 20 to 25% increase in the risk of congenital anomalies.
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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w16844
Published: Janet Currie & Michael Greenstone & Enrico Moretti, 2011. "Superfund Cleanups and Infant Health," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 435-41, May. citation courtesy of 