Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202773 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12427
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Car exhaust is a major source of air pollution, but little is known about its impacts on population health. We exploit the dispersion of emissions-cheating diesel cars - which secretly polluted up to 150 times as much as gasoline cars - across the United States from 2008-2015 as a natural experiment to measure the health impact of car pollution. Using the universe of vehicle registrations, we demonstrate that a 10 percent cheating-induced increase in car exhaust increases rates of low birth weight and acute asthma attacks among children by 1.9 and 8.0 percent, respectively. These health impacts occur at all pollution levels and across the entire socioeconomic spectrum.
Subjects: 
car pollution
health
emissions-cheating
JEL: 
I10
I14
K32
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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