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Clean</title></head><body>
<div>Environment and Sustainability Seminar Series<br>
Sponsored by the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment</div>
<div><http://lfee.mit.edu></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Air Quality, Infant Mortality, and the
Clean Air Act of 1970</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Michael Greenstone, Associate
Professor</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Department of Economics</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Wednesday, March 3, 2004</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">12:00 - 1:30 p.m.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">E40-496</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Abstract</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">We examine the effects of total suspended
particulates (TSPs) air pollution on infant health using the air
quality improvements induced by the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments
(CAAA). This legislation imposed strict regulations on industrial
polluters in nonattainment' counties with TSPs concentrations
exceeding the federal ceiling. We use nonattainment status as an
instrumental variable for TSPs changes to estimate their impact on
infant mortality changes in the first year that the 1970 CAAA was in
force. TSPs nonattainment status is associated with sharp reductions
in both TSPs pollution and infant mortality from 1971 to 1972. The
greater reductions in nonattainment counties near the federal ceiling
relative to the attainment' counties narrowly below the ceiling
suggest that the regulations are the cause. We estimate that a one
percent decline in TSPs results in a 0.5 percent decline in the infant
mortality rate. Most of these effects are driven by a reduction in
deaths occurring within one month of birth, suggesting that fetal
exposure is a potential biological pathway. The results imply that
roughly 1,300 fewer infants died in 1972 than would have in the
absence of the Clean Air Act.</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Paper available:</font></div>
<div><font
color="#000000">http://www.nber.org/papers/w10053.pdf</font></div>
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<div>Light refreshments will be provided.</div>
<div>___________________________________________________</div>
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<div>If you would like to be added or removed from this mailing list,
please contact Karen Gibson, kgibson@mit.edu</div>
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<div><font
color="#000000">_________________________________</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Karen L. Gibson</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Program Assistant</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">MIT Laboratory For Energy and the
Environment</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">77 Massachusetts Avenue,
E40-469</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">(1 Amherst St., E40-469 - for DHL and
FedEx)</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Cambridge, MA 02139 USA</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Tel: 1 (617) 258-6368; Fax: 1
(617) 258-6590</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">http://lfee.mit.edu</font></div>
<div><font
color="#000000">http://globalsustainability.org</font></div>
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