Killing Prescriptions Softly: Low Emission Zones and Child Health from Birth to Schools

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Klauber, Hannah; Holub, Felix; Koch, Nicolas; Pestel, Nico; Ritter, Nolan; Rohlf, Alexander
• 署名单位: Goethe University Frankfurt; Maastricht University; Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20210729
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 220-248
• 关键词: air-pollution evidence; infant-mortality; COSTS; exposure; outcomes; IMPACT; shocks; ACT

摘要

We examine the persistence of the impact of early -life exposure to air pollution on children's health from birth to school enrollment using administrative public health insurance records covering one-third of all children in Germany. For identification , we exploit air quality improvements caused by Low Emission Zones , a policy imposing driving restrictions on emission -intensive vehicles. Our results indicate that children exposed to cleaner air in utero and their first year of life require less medication for at least five years. The initially latent health response materializes only gradually , leaving important but subtle health benefits undetected in common measures of infant health. ( JEL I12, I13, J13, Q51, Q53, R48 )