Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Greenstone, Michael; Hanna, Rema
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.10.3038
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 3038-3072
• 关键词: MEXICO-CITY; QUALITY; emissions; SYSTEM; ozone; tests; ACT

摘要

Using the most comprehensive developing country dataset ever compiled on air and water pollution and environmental regulations, the paper assesses India's environmental regulations with a difference-in-differences design. The air pollution regulations are associated with substantial improvements in air quality. The most successful air regulation resulted in a modest but statistically insignificant decline in infant mortality. In contrast, the water regulations had no measurable benefits. The available evidence leads us to cautiously conclude that higher demand for air quality prompted the effective enforcement of air pollution regulations, indicating that strong public support allows environmental regulations to succeed in weak institutional settings.