EuHEA Seminar - Chiara Serra (Bocconi University)

Abstract

We investigate the medium-term effects of prenatal exposure to moderate air pollution on health matching satellite estimates of PM10 concentration with administrative longi- tudinal data on the universe of live-births, hospitalisation records and pharmaceutical consumption in a large Italian region. Employing quasi-random variation in PM10 and controlling for weather and economic activity, we show that prenatal exposure to air pollution leads to worse health outcomes at birth and to substantially higher pharma- ceutical consumption and hospitalization rates in early life, especially for less healthy individuals. We rule out in-sample compositional effects and show that the geograph- ical mobility of expectant mothers does not respond to air pollution. The effects of air pollution are long-lasting and entail sizeable monetary costs even at moderate levels.

Speaker: Chiara Serra (Bocconi University)

Discussant: Katharina Janke (Lancaster University)

Chair: Daniela Iorio (University of Bologna)