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Research ArticleArticles

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker

Prenatal Pollution Exposure and Educational Outcomes

Nicholas J. Sanders
Journal of Human Resources, July 2012, 47 (3) 826-850; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.47.3.826
Nicholas J. Sanders
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Abstract

I examine the impact of prenatal total suspended particulate (TSP) exposure on educational outcomes using county-level variation in the timing and severity of the industrial recession of the early 1980s as a shock to ambient TSPs (similar to Chay and Greenstone 2003b). I then instrument for pollution levels using county-level changes in relative manufacturing employment. A standard deviation decrease in TSPs in a student’s year of birth is associated with 2 percent of a standard deviation increase in high school test scores for OLS and 6 percent for IV. I also consider how migration and selection into motherhood relate to my results.

  • Received July 2011.
  • Accepted October 2011.
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Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 47, Issue 3
1 Jul 2012
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What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker
Nicholas J. Sanders
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2012, 47 (3) 826-850; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.47.3.826

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What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker
Nicholas J. Sanders
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2012, 47 (3) 826-850; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.47.3.826
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • I. Introduction
    • II. Pollution, health, and intrauterine development
    • III. Data
    • IV. Method
    • V. Econometric model
    • VI. Results
    • VII. Discussion
    • VIII. Conclusion
    • Footnotes
    • References
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  • References
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