title: Environmental Health Risks and Housing Values: Evidence from 1,600 Toxic Plant Openings and Closings.
abstract: Regulatory oversight of toxic emissions from industrial plants and understanding about these emissions' impacts are in their infancy. Applying a research design based on the openings and closings of 1,600 industrial plants to rich data on housing markets and infant health, we find that: toxic air emissions affect air quality only within 1 mile of the plant; plant openings lead to 11 percent declines in housing values within 0.5 mile or a loss of about $4.25 million for these households; and a plant's operation is associated with a roughly 3 percent increase in the probability of low birthweight within 1 mile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Princeton University, 316 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540 ( jcurrie@princeton.edu ).
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.affiliation: Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 ( ldavis@haas.berkeley.edu ).
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 ( mgreenst@uchicago.edu ).
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greenstone
authors.affiliation: Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 ( rwalker@haas.berkeley.edu ).
authors.forename: Reed
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics*; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D000068104:Infant Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D000072499:Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D015386:Hazardous Substances