Did Frederick Brodie Discover the World's First Environmental Kuznets Curve? Coal Smoke and the Rise and Fall of the London Fog

Clay, Karen; Troesken, Werner

doi:10.3386/w15669

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Much of the previous research has focused on the post-Clean Air Act U.S., when air pollution levels were substantially lower and less variable across locations (Currie and Walker, 2011;Currie et al, 2015;Schlenker and Walker, 2016;Severnini, 2017). Our analysis complements previous studies examining the consequences of historical air pollution in the U.S. and the U.K. (Clay and Troesken, 2011;Hanlon and Tian, 2015;Hanlon, 2018;Beach and Hanlon, forthcoming), and current pollution in developing countries (Jayachandran, 2009;Arceo-Gomez, Hanna and Oliva, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Canary in a Coal Mine: Infant Mortality, Property Values, and Tradeoffs Associated with Mid-20th Century Air Pollution

Clay¹,

Lewis²,

Severnini³

2016

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Pollution is a common byproduct of economic activity. Although policymakers should account for both the benefits and the negative externalities of polluting activities, it is difficult to identify those who are harmed and those who benefit from them. To overcome this challenge, our paper uses a novel dataset on the mid-20th century expansion of the U.S. power grid to study the costs and the benefits of coal-fired electricity generation. The empirical analysis exploits the timing of coal-fired power plant openings and annual variation in plant-level coal consumption from 1938 to 1962, when emissions were virtually unregulated. Pollution from the burning of coal for electricity generation is shown to have quantitatively important and nonlinear effects on countylevel infant mortality rates. By 1962, it was responsible for 3,500 infant deaths per year, over one death per thousand live births. These effects are even larger at lower levels of coal consumption. We also find evidence of clear tradeoffs associated with coal-fired electricity generation. For counties with low access to electricity in the baseline, increases in local power plant coal consumption reduced infant mortality and increased housing values and rental prices. For counties with near universal access to electricity in the baseline, increases in coal consumption by power plants led to higher infant mortality rates, and lower housing values and rental prices. These results highlight the importance of considering both the costs and benefits of polluting activities, and suggest that demand for policy intervention may emerge only when the negative externalities are significantly larger than the perceived benefits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Canary in a Coal Mine: Infant Mortality, Property Values, and Tradeoffs Associated with Mid-20th Century Air Pollution

Clay¹,

Lewis²,

Severnini³

2016

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“…These conditions are exemplified by the periodic smogs that occurred typically in cold, humid and still conditions, associated with anticyclones and temperature inversions. The famous London smogs produced excess mortality especially from bronchitis and pneumonia (Clay and Troesken 2011). Such conditions were common to most towns but, for a given population density, they were made much worse by the emissions from concentrations of heavy industry.…”

Section: Victorian Britainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Pollution, Health, and Height in Late Nineteenth Century Britain

2018

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In nineteenth century Britain atmospheric pollution from coal-fired industrialization was on the order of 50 times higher than today. We examine the effects of these emissions on child development by analysing the heights on enlistment during WWI of men born in England and Wales in the 1890s. We find a strong negative relationship between adult heights and the coal intensity of the districts in which these men were observed as children in the 1901 census. The subsequent decline in atmospheric pollution likely contributed to the long-term improvement in health and increase in height.

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“…Only in 1941 did the city reduce its use of bituminous coal and it continued to reduce its reliance on coal after WWII (Tarr 2002; Tarr and Lamperes 1981). Jack London (1903) cited scientific studies that “no less than six tons of solid matter, consisting of soot and tarry hydrocarbons, are deposited every week on every quarter of a square mile in and about London.” He added that “sulphuric acid in the atmosphere is constantly being breathed by the London workmen through all the days and nights of their lives.” Clay and Troesken (2011) found that “foggy” days in London correlated with excess mortality and that the number of these days rose from 1870 to 1891 and then fell until their series ended in 1905. They attributed the decline to population shifts from the center city, fines for excess smoke emissions instituted in 1891 which led to switches from bituminous coal and to more efficient stoking and firing procedures, and the spread of gas cookers and heating, particularly among the poor.…”

Section: Causes Of the Mortality Transition: Micro-evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present

Costa

2015

Journal of Economic Literature

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I discuss the health transition in the United States, bringing new data to bear on health indicators, and investigating the changing relationship between health, income, and the environment. I argue that scientific advances played an outsize role and that health improvements were largest among the poor. Health improvements were not a precondition for modern economic growth. The gains to health are largest when the economy has moved from “brawn” to “brains” because this is when the wage returns to education are high, leading the healthy to obtain more education. More education may improve use of health knowledge, producing a virtuous cycle.

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Did Frederick Brodie Discover the World's First Environmental Kuznets Curve? Coal Smoke and the Rise and Fall of the London Fog

Cited by 17 publications

References 30 publications

Canary in a Coal Mine: Infant Mortality, Property Values, and Tradeoffs Associated with Mid-20th Century Air Pollution

Canary in a Coal Mine: Infant Mortality, Property Values, and Tradeoffs Associated with Mid-20th Century Air Pollution

Atmospheric Pollution, Health, and Height in Late Nineteenth Century Britain

Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present

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