THE CONSEQUENCES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION: EVIDENCE FROM WATER POLLUTION AND DIGESTIVE CANCERS IN CHINA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ebenstein, Avraham
• 署名单位: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00150
• 发表日期: 2012-02
• 页码: 186-201
• 关键词: municipal drinking-water; stomach-cancer; mortality; nitrate; RISK; esophageal; increase; exposure; IMPACT; chile

摘要

China's rapid industrialization has led to a severe deterioration in water quality in the country's lakes and rivers. By exploiting variation in pollution across China's river basins, I estimate that a deterioration of water quality by a single grade (on a six-grade scale) increases the digestive cancer death rate by 9.7%. The analysis rules out other potential explanations such as smoking rates, dietary patterns, and air pollution. I estimate that doubling China's levy rates for wastewater dumping would save roughly 17,000 lives per year but require an additional $500 million in annual spending on wastewater treatment.