SMU SOE Online Seminar (Mar 3, 2021, 9am-10.30am): A Watershed Moment: The Clean Water Act and Infant Health

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ABSTRACT The Clean Water Act (CWA) signiﬁcantly improved surface water quality, but at a cost exceeding the estimated beneﬁts. We quantify the eﬀect of the CWA on a direct measure of health and incorporate health beneﬁts into the cost-beneﬁt analysis. Using a diﬀerence-in-diﬀerences framework, we compare health upstream and downstream from wastewater treatment facilities before and after CWA grant receipt. Pollution only decreased downstream from facilities required to upgrade their treatment technology, and we leverage this additional variation with a triple diﬀerence. CWA grants increased average birth weight by 8 grams. A back-of-the-envelope calculation bounds infant health beneﬁts below $29 billion. Click here to view the CV.		This seminar will be held virtually via Zoom. A confirmation email with the Zoom details will be sent to the registered email by 2 March 2021.
		PRESENTER Michelle Marcus Vanderbilt University
		RESEARCH FIELDS Health Environmental Applied Microeconomics
		DATE: 3 March 2021 (Wednesday)
		TIME: 9.00am - 10.30am