Pollution Exposure and Infant Health: Evidence from Germany

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp10079.pdf Non-technial summaryAlmost all western industrializ ed count ries have int roduced s ome measures for pollution abatement that ar e supposed to promote health . Our analys is focuses on the impact of pollution expos ure on infant health, bec ause particularly c hildren ar e very sensitive to pollution. As a child 's metabolism is regulated differently than that of an adult, it needs, relatively speaking, more energy and oxygen. Children t ake in relatively more food per kilogram and t herefore relatively more pollutants .Furthermore, they breathe relatively more pe r kilogram of their bodyweight and, as a result, the respiratory tract is stressed more by pollutants.We examine the impact of outdoor and indoor pollution on children's health from birth until the age of three years in G ermany. Therefore, we use representative data from the German Socio-Ec onomic Panel (SOEP), co mbined with five air pollution levels.These dat a are provided by the Federal Environment Agency and cover the years 2002-2007. We obs erve five di fferent pollutants (CO, NO 2 , SO 2 , O 3 , and PM 10 ) on a (half-) hourly basis. We are able t o follow the effect of pollution exposure on a child 's health during the fir st three years of life, accounting for time-invariant and unobserved neighbourhood-specific and mother-specific characteristics.Our results suggest a significantly negativ e impact for some pollutants on infant health during early c hildhood. In comparis on to outdoor pollutio n, indoor pollution seems to be more harmful directly after birth, while the relations hip between indoor and outdoor pollution changes later in chil dhood. Since smoking is one s ource of producing carbon monoxide and thus affects child health negatively, our results further support the advice to par ents of young children not to smoke. Moreover, the results underline the efforts made on the regional and national level t o reduce pollution levels. As pollution lev els are hi gher in urban areas, environmental policies should foc us particularly on reducing pollutant s in these areas in order to improve child health. Das Wichtigste in KürzeIn Deutschland hat sich die Luftqualität seit den 90er J ahren zwar deutlich verbes- Abstract:This paper examines the impact of outdoor and indoor pollution on children's health from birth until the age of three years in Germany. We use representative data from the Ge...

Inequality at Birth: Some Causes and Consequences

“…The negative effects of CO exposure are five times greater for smokers than for non-smokers, and there is some evidence of negative effects of exposure to ozone and particulates among infants of smokers. Katja Coneus and C. Katharina Spiess (2010) adopt similar methods using German data, and also find large effects of CO on infant health.…”

Inequality at Birth: Some Causes and Consequences

“…The negative effects of CO exposure are five times greater for smokers than for non-smokers, and there is some evidence of negative effects of exposure to ozone and particulates among infants of smokers. Katja Coneus and C. Katharina Spiess (2010) adopt similar methods using German data, and also find large effects of CO on infant health. exploit the introduction of electronic toll collection devices (E-ZPass) in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.…”

Pollution and Infant Health

“…Studies relying on natural experiments have recently been conducted in other countries. In Germany, CO harmed infants' health (Coneus & Spiess, 2010). In Turkey, following the switch from coal to natural gas, a 1 percentage point increase in subscriptions to natural gas was associated with a 4% decline in infant mortality (Cesur, Tekin, & Ulker, 2013).…”