Air pollution and child development in India

A. Balietti (1) , S. Datta (2) , S. Veljanoska (3)

1 Universität Heidelberg [Heidelberg] = Heidelberg University
2 ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]
3 CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management

In this paper, we study the impact of air pollution on child growth in India. We rely on wind direction to capture quasi-random variation in three main criteria air pollutants. We show that an increase in the average concentration of fine particulate matter by one standard deviation is accountable for almost 5 and 2.4 percentage points of stunting and severe stunting rates, respectively. We also find that ozone and carbon monoxide impact weight-related outcomes. Stunting has critical long-term health and economic consequences; through its impact on stunting, pollution exacerbates the height premium in earnings, with girls being more adversely affected than boys in India. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Mots clés: Ambient air pollution; Anthropometry; Child health; Height premium; Wind direction

Domaines: Economies et finances

A. Balietti, S. Datta, S. Veljanoska. Air pollution and child development in India. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2022, 113, pp.102624. ⟨10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102624⟩. ⟨hal-03662124⟩