Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health
Since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), atmospheric concentration of local pollutants has fallen drastically. A natural question is whether further reductions will yield additional health benefits. We further this research by addressing two related research questions: (1) what is the impa...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
2011
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66287 |
| _version_ | 1811096354623062016 |
|---|---|
| author | Knittel, Christopher R, Miller, Douglas L. Sanders, Nicholas J. |
| author_facet | Knittel, Christopher R, Miller, Douglas L. Sanders, Nicholas J. |
| author_sort | Knittel, Christopher R, |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), atmospheric concentration of local pollutants has fallen drastically. A natural question is whether further reductions will yield additional health benefits. We further this research by addressing two related research questions: (1) what is the impact of automobile driving (and especially congestion) on ambient air pollution levels, and (2) what is the impact of modern air pollution levels on infant health? Our setting is California (with a focus on the Central Valley and Southern California) in the years 2002-2007. Using an instrumental variables approach that exploits the relationship between traffic, ambient weather conditions, and various pollutants, our findings suggest that ambient pollution levels, specifically particulate matter, still have large impacts on weekly infant mortality rates. Our results also illustrate the importance of weather controls in measuring pollution’s impact on infant mortality. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:42:30Z |
| format | Working Paper |
| id | mit-1721.1/66287 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:42:30Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/662872019-04-12T20:57:19Z Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health Knittel, Christopher R, Miller, Douglas L. Sanders, Nicholas J. Since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), atmospheric concentration of local pollutants has fallen drastically. A natural question is whether further reductions will yield additional health benefits. We further this research by addressing two related research questions: (1) what is the impact of automobile driving (and especially congestion) on ambient air pollution levels, and (2) what is the impact of modern air pollution levels on infant health? Our setting is California (with a focus on the Central Valley and Southern California) in the years 2002-2007. Using an instrumental variables approach that exploits the relationship between traffic, ambient weather conditions, and various pollutants, our findings suggest that ambient pollution levels, specifically particulate matter, still have large impacts on weekly infant mortality rates. Our results also illustrate the importance of weather controls in measuring pollution’s impact on infant mortality. University of California Energy Institute and UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. UC Davis Institute of Governmental Affairs, the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, and the TSR&TP through the Atmospheric Aerosols and Health (AAH) Lead Campus program. 2011-10-17T16:22:33Z 2011-10-17T16:22:33Z 2011-07 Working Paper 2011-013 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66287 en_US MIT-CEEPR;2011-013 An error occurred on the license name. An error occurred getting the license - uri. application/pdf MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research |
| spellingShingle | Knittel, Christopher R, Miller, Douglas L. Sanders, Nicholas J. Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health |
| title | Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health |
| title_full | Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health |
| title_fullStr | Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health |
| title_short | Caution, Drivers! Children Present: Traffic, Pollution, and Infant Health |
| title_sort | caution drivers children present traffic pollution and infant health |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66287 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT knittelchristopherr cautiondriverschildrenpresenttrafficpollutionandinfanthealth AT millerdouglasl cautiondriverschildrenpresenttrafficpollutionandinfanthealth AT sandersnicholasj cautiondriverschildrenpresenttrafficpollutionandinfanthealth |