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Seminar

Pollution and Mortality in the United States: Evidence from 1972-1988

  • Series
    Labor Seminars
  • Speaker(s)
    Tatyana Deryugina (University of Illinois, United States)
  • Field
    Empirical Microeconomics
  • Location
    Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam, Sydney room
    Amsterdam
  • Date and time

    May 24, 2022
    15:30 - 16:30

Abstract
We estimate the effects of sulfur dioxide (SO2) exposure on short- and long-run mortality in the US over the period 1972-1988. Using wind direction as an instrument for changes in daily SO2 levels, we estimate that a one-day, one part-per-billion increase in SO2 raises all-age mortality by 0.18 deaths per million over the next four weeks. This immediate mortality increase is concentrated among the elderly. We then calibrate a dynamic production model of health using our short-run estimates. The model suggests that the 1972-1988 reductions in SO2 can explain a meaningful share of the observed mortality decline over this time period. Join paper with Julian Reif.